Matchups set for city premier soccer finals Wednesday

The St. Benedict Bears boys soccer team are but a win away from a flawless season, at least on a local level.

After posting a 6-0 record in regular-season play, easily topping the SDSSAA Premier league standings, the Bears have moved on to the city final following a 3-0 semifinal win over the Confederation Chargers.

St. Benedict did all of their damage in the first half, getting a goal from Brandon Moxam and then two more, just a minute apart, just before the half. Already up 1-0, the Bears worked their magic as Shawn Wilcox played a nifty volley through to Nick Filipetto, who struck it about a foot off the ground to double the lead.

On their very next offensive attack, the Bears spotted Wilcox sprinting down the right flank, with the natural goal scorer easily finding the back of the net. The shutout for St. Benedict was shared by Connor Vande Weghe and Nicholas Hechler.

The defending OFSAA antique bronze-medal winning team will face the Lockerby Vikings, who survived a thrilling 2-1 shootout win over the Lo-Ellen Park Knights in making it through to the gold-medal affair.

After 90 minutes of scoreless soccer, Lo-Ellen broke the ice in overtime. But with no golden goal in effect, it was the Vikes who, for the umpteenth time this year, rallied late, knotting the contest at 1-1 with roughly three minutes remaining in the second overtime session.

Things were just as tightly contested in girls premier play on Monday as a pair of 1-0 games produced the matchup that will take place on Wednesday with the city title on the line.

The Lockerby Vikings received a second-half goal from Lexi Ransom and shutout netminding from Karli Shell to take down the Marymount Regals as action kicked off on the James Jerome Sports Complex turf beginning at 2 p.m.

The Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes then punched their ticket to the dance, as Brianne Rodrigue nailed a great top-corner shot from 25 yards out, providing just enough offence as CND trimmed the Confederation Chargers 1-0.

Josée Scott recorded the clean sheet in net for the Als.

As for the NOSSA picture, both the Marymount girls and St. Benedict boys are already through as the local A representatives, with Lockerby now assured the boys AAA slot.

With two entries in the boys AA tournament, Confederation and Lo-Ellen will slide in as the No. 1 and No. 2 seed respectively. The girls city final will provide the answer to the final question, with the winners becoming the AA representatives while the losing side represents SDSSAA at the AAA competition.