June 1, 2022 – They shoot, score, and capture gold! Char-Lan District High School not only hosted the 2022 Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (EOSSAA) junior soccer championships this week, but earned gold in the girls’ division.
Nine teams from across Eastern Ontario, three from the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB), battled it out on May 31. Six boys teams and three girls teams played for the covenant title and trophy. The UCDSB was represented in the girls’ division by Char-Lan District High School, along with Tagwi Secondary School and Rockland District High School for the boys.
It was a strong performance by all teams during the single-day event, which would see UCDSB in the championship match-up for both the girls and boys.
Char-Lan DHS dominated the field in all three games, netting the big win over Holy Trinity 2-0.
Coach Shirley MacDonell says the girls played exceptionally well throughout all their games. They had played against Holy Trinity a couple of times in the regular season and the score was always close in those matchups.
“We are super proud of the girls. They played very well as a team, practiced a lot, worked hard, and had great attitudes,” she says a lot of the girls had been playing together competitively for several years. “Their season started with some solid defence, excellent goaltending by Paige Rombough, and then our midfielders just came back and controlled the play for most of our games. And of course, we had the forward line who could put the ball in the net.”
MacDonell adds that Holy Trinity came into the matchup through a wild card, and they played excellently. She hopes to face them again next year.
In the boys’ championship matchup, Rockland DHS faced intense competition against École secondaire catholique La Citadelle and lost 4-2.
“We played very well. I think La Citadelle beat us a little bit at our own game. So, it was a very interesting game to see. They had really good midfielders and they controlled the game a little bit better than we did, but we played well and I’m happy with their efforts,” says coach Jeff Swanson. “We had a really good season and a lot of fun. We won four and tied two. The guys played really well to overcome adversity and they showed strength too.”
The third school representing the UCDSB was Tagwi SS. The boys put up a great fight in both of their games, but did not advance to the championship game. “We had a good team to start, but encountered a lot of injuries throughout the season and we played in this tournament without two players due to that,” says coach Andrea Despatie. “The team developed a lot during the season. My big thing is developing for the next few years because I have a lot of grade nines on the team. Even in the final game, they played 100 per cent even though we weren’t moving on.”
Despatie adds that the boys learned about teamwork, how to play their positions, listen to the coach, and play together. “They were always positive and always supporting each other.”
Char-Lan DHS Jr. Girls Results
Char-Lan DHS vs. St. Johns (10-0)
Char-Lan DHS vs. Holy Trinity (2-1)
Finals: Char-Lan DHS vs. Holy Trinity (2-0)
Rockland DHS Jr. Boys Results
Rockland DHS vs. Tagwi SS (4-0)
Rockland DHS vs. Milles Isles DHS (3-3)
Finals: La Citadelle vs. Rockland DHS (4-2)
Tagwi SS Jr. Boys Results
Rockland DHS vs. Tagwi SS (4-0)
Milles Isles vs. Tagwi SS (3-0)