Dorchester Beavers, WOSSAA AA girls soccer champions.
Beavers head to fourth straight OFSAA
Capture WOSSAA AA girls soccer title edging St. Joe's, 3-2, on PKs in final
May 30, 2024
By Rob J. Ross
ST. THOMAS - It's a fifth consecutive trip to OFSAA for Dorchester Beavers girls soccer.
The Beavers captured the WOSSAA AA title, edging the St. Joseph's Rams, 3-2 (3-0), in penalty kicks May 30 at Password Park.
Both teams now prepare for OFSAA, June 6-8 in St. Thomas, with the Rams as the host school.
Tied 2-2 after regulation, after the Rams scored twice in the final five minutes, erasing a Beavers' 2-0 lead and taking the game to overtime and then penalty kicks
It was all Dorchester in kicks, with Portia Metcalfe, Jenna Couch and Julia Ritchie scoring. Beavers' keeper Makenna Brown made a pair of saves and watched the Rams' second kick hit the crossbar
"This is the fifth year going for the girls program which is really good and I don't think it's something small. I'm glad we can do it again," said Nolte. "We had the lead and held possession, but we couldn't finish. We should have had four probably. At the end, it was those little mistakes that they capitalized on as they should. It led to pens and thankfully for us, we practice pens a lot. We had a good grasp on how to do it."
The Beavers led 1-0 at half and doubled it early second half, with Bella Nolte and Megan McLachlin scoring.
With less than five minute remaining in regulation, St. Joe's Avery Dowson struck twice in about a minute tying the game.
"It was a learning moment," Beavers' coach Andreas Nolte said. "We turned off a little bit. We were swinging for the fences instead of playing soccer. We're exhausted. Our third game and girls had club game last night, but it means you have to be mentally strong."
The Beavers reaction to the Rams late rally could have went another way.
"It gave us a great learning moment under a lot of duress because the girls wanted to win WOSSAA. The team could gone either way in the moment, oh, we lost it and we lose in overtime, or we can regain the momentum," said coach Nolte. "We had four beautiful chances in overtime, so we got the momentum back and we carried it on in the pens. We're disciplined with really good shots and our goalie came up big for us."
Dorchester opened WOSSAA a day earlier, blanking Stratford St Mike's, 4-0, with Julia Ritchie scoring three times and Bella Nolte once.
Nolte with two goals, Ritchie and McLachlin netted balls in a 4-2 doubling up on London Oakridge, to advance to the final.
When the Rams edged St. Mike's, 1-0, in PKs, for their spot in the final, the Beavers knew they heading to OFSAA.
"Their game had gone in to pens and we all stayed to watch to see how it would end," Bella Nolte said. "It was comforting to know that we were going no matter what, but we still had that drive to want to win WOSSAA.
Dorchester captured four consecutive WOSSAA 1A titles, with two cancelled seasons due to the COVID pandemic in between. The Beavers made the OFSAA 1-A quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019 and won gold in 2022 and 2023.
The Rams made the quarterfinals at OFSAA AA last June.
"It's been kind of a weird season because we're hosting OFSAA and we know we're going," said Rams coach Kevin Paiva. "I've been telling them (players) all year they need to believe they belong at OFSAA too. It showed today the way they battled back."
St. Joe's regular reason wasn't sparking, finishing at 2-3 and needing to win a TVRA South-East quarterfinal at Ingersoll.
"We lost both of our goalies before the season. It was tough. A couple of girls got hurt. We got healthy towards the end of the season and turned it on for playoffs,' Paiva said. "We always told (players) we have to peak for OFSAA, especially at home. That's kind of what we're doing. We'll see what happens next week."
The big win of the season was defeating their cross town rivals, Parkside Stampeders, 3-2, in the South-East semifinals.
"The Parkside win was huge for us. A huge morale booster and the girls got up for that game. It's a little tough for the other ones when you know you're (hosting OFSAA)," Paiva said. "If we had lost that Parkside game, we would have been sitting at home for two weeks. We wanted to show we belong here."
At WOSSAA, Dowson, Kylie Todd, Ruby Steen and Ella Webster, scored in a 4-1 defeat of Oakridge.
Brooklyn Roskamp scored in the sixth round of PKs, giving the Rams a 1-0 win over St. Mike's and advance to the final.
Dorchester is back at OFSAA, but it is AA and the team is different from last year.
"A lot of these girls were not starters last year. They came off the bench, so it was a little bit easier. Now it's a little more pressure for them, because they're the ones that have to do the dirty work," coach Nolte said. "Now being double-A, it's another challenge of playing much stronger, bigger schools."
The Rams have experience from last year and hope to take the next step on home turf, led by a trio of Grade 12 players, Dowson, Reece Coleman and Sara Gonzalez.
"Our three big leaders," said Paiva. "Sarah Gonzalez played some big minutes. Reece Coleman played every minute of WOSSAA playing D, marking girls that were going to division one. She never came off the field."
Dowson has been a sniper for the Rams' in the playoffs, with two goals against Ingersoll, the winner against Parkside and three goals at WOSSSAA.
Dorchester and St. Joe's have clashed four times this season, at a tournament, the season opener, and both the TVRA and WOSSAA finals. Beavs are 4-0, making their coach a little nervous.
"I don't want to see them again unless it's the OFSAA final," said coach Nolte.
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