Last year, William McDonald School very nearly swept the board in Junior Super Soccer, winning five of the six banners up for grabs.
They didn't win five this time around but they were still the dominant school at this year's tournament.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
The Wildcats snagged four banners in total, sweeping both the girls and boys titles in and Grade 7 and 8 divisions. The Grade 7 girls downed Haines Junction from Yukon in their final while the Grade 8 girls took down the Kugluktuk Grizzlies.
Both of the boys titles were guarantees as William McDonald played William McDonald in both the Grade 7 and 8 finales. William McDonald White had perhaps the tougher of the two routes to the final in the Grade 8 boys division as they had to overcome an extremely plucky Allain St. Cyr outfit in the semifinal, needing a golden goal in extra time to win it, 3-2.
Mitch Grady coached both of the Grade 8 William McDonald teams and admitted that, had Allain St. Cyr had a substitute or two, it could have been a different story.
“Their starters were stronger than ours were but we had the advantage of having fresh legs coming off the bench,” he said. “Their goalkeeper stood on his head and it was just a great semifinal.”
With both Wildcat teams in the final, it was a case of playing for pride but Grady said there was still some semblance of competitive juice in the result.
“We talked in the dressing room before the final and we just wanted to have fun,” he said. “That took the edge off a bit but the kids still wanted to win.”
Both teams went out guns blazing in the first half as the scoreboard read 5-5 at the interval but William McDonald Blue ended up on the right end of the final score as they won, 8-6.
“It was an intense game,” said Grady. “There was some disappointment but it was a tough situation.”
The school continued its policy of mixing up the players onto teams and not loading up one team to compete for the banner, something Grady said seems to keep working.
“We had our practices and we would mix the teams around.” he said. “The rosters were actually set about a week before the tournament but we switched things around. It seems to be working out because we're competitive in every grade and you can tell the kids love it. They're committed and it's tough to get them out of the soccer mentality after it's done.”
The Grade 6 division is where other teams found success as Kugluktuk defeated William McDonald to claim the boys crown while St. Joe's was the only Yellowknife team not named William McDonald to win as they captured the girls banner by beating Princess Alexandra School from Hay River. The win gave the school its first Super Soccer banner since 2014.
Christine Macdonald was one of the St. Joe's coaches and said it was an evenly-matched final.
“It was 50 minutes on the edge of your seat, for sure,” she said.
The score was knotted at 1-1 at halftime but St. Joe's managed to find an extra gear in the second half with three goals to salt the game away.
“It was a very close first half,” said Macdonald. “We had some good shots on goal in the second half and our defence came up big for us to protect the lead. We always tell the girls to put their best foot forward and enjoy playing.”
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