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Irish sinks Trinity girls again By Ryan Glassman SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER 25 · Thursday, May 27, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com MILTON -- When it comes to senior girls' soccer, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish just seems to have the Holy Trinity Titans' number. Notre Dame striker Angela Cutaia broke a scoreless deadlock in the final minute of regulation, lifting the Irish to a 1-0 win over Trinity in Tuesday's Halton AAAA final at Milton's Lions Sports Park. Titans head coach Peter Bonfiglio is beginning to feel like Bill Murray did in the classic film Groundhog Day. "This is the rival. It's always us against them," he said. "They've been my nemesis. This is my third senior girls' Halton final since I've been teaching for about eight years, and we've lost to Notre Dame every single time." Perhaps even more frustrating for the Titans was how evenly matched the two teams appeared to be. "On this day, they caught the goal at the end. It could have gone either way. They push us a little bit, then we fight back for 15 min- utes, they push us back for 15 minutes," said Bonfiglio. "It was almost indicative of a heavyweight title fight. Just when you think you got the game in control, it turns on you." Irish head coach Casey Downey agreed. "It came down to a last-minute goal," he said. "There wasn't much to separate these two teams today." Cutaia's goal ensured that Notre Dame kept its undefeated season alive, while Trinity's loss was its first of the season. The two teams tied 1-1 in their regular-season meeting May 3. "We haven't had a close one like this since we last tied (the Titans)," Cutaia said. Despite Tuesday's loss, the Titans could still qualify for the upcoming Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournament. Trinity will visit Hamilton's Cardinal Newman today (Thursday) in a Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) challenge contest, with the winner advancing to provincials. Notre Dame will host Bishop Tonnis in the other GHAC game today. GHAC has two entries into this year's OFSAA tournament. STA claims girls' A/AA crown A berth at the provincial championships wasn't on the line when the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders faced the Acton Bearcats in the Halton senior girls' A/AA soccer final Tuesday in Milton. Not that the Raiders players were aware of that, though. Aquinas coach Justin Yantho kept that information from his charges until after the Raiders' 2-0 win over the Bearcats. Since Aquinas is a AA-sized school and Acton is a Asized school, both had qualified for their respective Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournaments before the Halton final. "I thought they would play that extra little bit harder if they thought they needed that game," Yantho said. "And, if we happened to lose, there could still be a bit of consolation there that we weren't done yet." The coach's motivational tactic may have helped Tuesday. So did an early goal by Laura Medlock, who scored five minutes into the contest on a fine individual effort. Robyn Matos added an insurance marker for Aquinas midway through the second half, and Raiders keeper Jessica Demello kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Aquinas is the third seed for the upcoming provincial AA tournament in Sarnia, a ranking based on Halton teams' performances at OFSAA the past five years. The Raiders won gold in 2006 and silver in 2008. Yantho liked the test his team got from Acton in the Halton final, which matched up the top two A/AA teams in the region. "It was a good way to finish, playing a good team before you go," he said. "That will do both us and Acton a favour going into OFSAA." -- Jon Kuiperij NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER UP IN THE AIR: Notre Dame's Jesse Shugg (in white) and Holy Trinity's Sarah Farano run down the ball during Tuesday's Halton high school senior girls' soccer AAAA final in Milton. Oakville MINOR FOOTBALL FALL TACKLE HOUSE LEAGUE REGISTRATION OAKVILLE TITANS OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB Oakville Titans = Oakville Football Week Two Photo Contest Winner: Photographer Matt Mackinnon Sponsored by: at St. Ignatius of Loyola S.S. and register in person. May 30, 11am-3pm June 6, 11am-3pm June 27, 11am-4pm BANTAM ­ 1996-1997 PEE WEE ­ 1998-1999 ATOM ­ 2000-2001 The Oakville Beaver A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club or register on-line at www.oakvillegridiron.com and pay through PayPal. For more information call 905-338-2291