The boys representing the St. Benedict Bears and Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes, as well as the girls donning the colours of the Lo-Ellen Park Knights and Macdonald-Cartier Panthères, all survived elimination games on Monday, moving on to high school soccer semi-final play on May 16.
The Panthères received a four-goal effort from Ariane Saumure, rolling all over the Marymount Regals by a final score of 6-2 to open things off at the James Jerome Sports Complex.
A much tighter affair in game two as Katie Chomiak and Nathalie Valiquette both found the back of the net in a 2-1 Lo-Ellen Park win over the Confederation Chargers.
The Bears boys surprised the Lo-Ellen lads as St. Benedict unveiled a much different look from the 1-1 encounter of a week ago, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back in a 5-0 whitewashing of the Knights.
"For this game, we decided to move Max MacGillivray up to striker instead of playing fullback," said central defender Blake Tilson. "We needed some size up there and he provided that. He put in three in the first half and that just inspired us to keep going."
The Bears will now take on the second place St. Charles College Cardinals at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, a foe that presents a different challenge from some of the other SDSSAA Premier contenders.
"They have solid players at every position, compared to maybe just one standout player in a certain position on a certain team," said Tilson. A veteran of the local club soccer scene, the well-spoken teenager suggested that he tackles his role differently between his two teams, despite playing the same position for both.
"I find on the school level, it's more fundamental," he said. "Just get the ball up to the mids and the attackers and let them do it. At club, we play possession more, instead of just getting it up to the forwards to take care of everything."
Closing out the day, Notre-Dame keeper Hunter Adams turned aside everything the Lockerby Vikings would throw his way, getting just enough offensive support in the form of the game's only goal courtesy of teammate Martin Bulic, as CND blanked the Vikes 1-0.
Semi-finals will occupy the pitch all day Tuesday, with league finals slated for May 23, from 2 p.m. - 8 p.m.
