YORKTON - The Yorkton Regional High School Lady Raiders were the host team for the 5A Girls Soccer Provincials Friday and Saturday.
The Lady Raiders would emerge from the two-day event winning the bronze medal, which coach Michael Chapman said was “a huge accomplishment and I’m told our first provincial medal since winning the 5A title back in 1997.”
Yorkton won their opening game against Regina O’Neill 6-0 to advance to the championship side of the bracket.
They then played a tight game with Saskatoon St. Joseph in the semi-final where they were beaten 4 - 2 and lost starting centre back Sara Switzer, the second key injury the girls have suffered in as many weeks.
Saskatoon St. Joseph went on to win the 5A provincials, defeating Saskatoon Holy Cross 4 - 2 in the gold medal game.
The Lady Raiders then faced off with an old rival, Swift Current, in the bronze medal match.
Swift Current upset the number-one seed in Regina to advance to the championship side, and were then beaten by Holy Cross 4 - 0 to find themselves in the bronze medal match.
“Swift attempted to play an extremely defensive game dropping all 10 players back and attempting to eat up the clock,” said Chapman. “They substituted frequently, sent balls deep out the sides, and played for a draw to try to take the game to penalties.”
The first half of the bronze medal match found the teams tied at 0 - 0.
Yorkton Captain Hadiza Kasim moved into the midfield to attempt to generate offence, and in the first minute of the second half caught a beautiful cross from midfielder Addisyn Jakubiec inside the 18 yard box where she made no mistake and gave the Regional a 1 - 0 lead.
“That was all we would need as Hadiza moved back to centre back and the girls held on for a 1 - 0 win and a huge provincial bronze medal,” said Chapman.
The Lady Raiders lose two Grade 12 players who were important to the team – Halima Kasim and Kyra Pelly.
However, next year the rest of the team is back and the majority of the group will be seniors with the skill to win it all, said Chapman.
“We will be back and have our sights set on a provincial gold medal in 2024 - 2025,” he said.
