OkillSports18SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011 Unfriendly neighboursTrinity girls win school'sfirst OFSAA team medalTitans claim silver at soccer AAAA provincialsBy Jon KuiperijReinforcing the strength of girls soccer BEAVER SPORTS EDITORin Halton was the fact that Notre Dame claimed bronze at this years OFSAA tour-Going into last weeks Ontarionament, though the Titans and Irish didnt Federation of School Athletic Associationsface each other at provincials.girls soccer AAAA tournament, HolySecond-seeded Trinity cruised through Trinity coach Peter Bonfiglio liked histhe qualifying round, defeating Glebe teams chances.Collegiate 2-1 and Bill Crothers 4-2 before So much, in fact, itplaying to a scoreless draw scared him.against St. Thomas of This was the year out This was the year out of Villanova. The Titans had of our three (OFSAA our three (OFSAA appear-already clinched first in appearances) that I was ances) that I was the mosttheir pool before playing the most confident,confident, which actuallyVillanova.made me the most ner-which actually made me Trinity then blanked vous, Bonfiglio admitted.Denis Morris 2-0 in a quar-the most nervous.I wanted to make sure weter-final contest that was did things right and took much more lopsided than Holy Trinity coachadvantage of the team wethe score suggested, and Peter Bonfigliohad.earned its berth in the final The Titans certainly didwith a 1-0 win over Grand that.River in the semis.Trinity went undefeated in its first fiveWe defended well, which we usually games at the provincial tournament indo, and we capitalized on our chances, Thornhill before dropping a 2-0 decisionBonfiglio said.to the top-seeded Mother Teresa SpartansThe Titans golden dreams died with the in the championship game. The silverloss to Mother Teresa, which finished the medal was Trinitys first OFSAA teamtournament without allowing a single medal in its nine-year history, and came agoal.couple weeks after the Titans won theirIn the final, we ran into the best team first-ever Halton senior girls soccer title.in the tournament. Theres no doubt about The first thing was getting the Haltonit, Bonfiglio said. We all talked about it championship, and we finally got thatafterwards, that we could walk away know-one, said Bonfiglio, whose squad defeateding we got beat by a better team.MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVERthe Notre Dame Fighting Irish in thisEmma Mezgec (two), Brianna Cuzzolino years regional final. To (earn our first(two), Dana Chomski, Paula Simas, Lindsay FAMILIAR RIVALS: Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils players Matt Izzard (left) and Matt Gottschling OFSAA medal) in the same year is prettyGrigg and Melissa Coulson had Trinitys (right) wrap up Abbey Park's Cristian Lester during Friday's OFSAA boys' rugby AAA/AAAA bronze-good.See Titans, page 19medal game at Crusader Park. For details on OT's 13-0 victory, see page 19.Raiders earn soccer bronze, but wonder what could have beenBy Jon KuiperijOliveira.Christopher) that never lost a game, that never tied a game? BEAVER SPORTS EDITORTo the last man and the last coach, we are quite satisfied. Oliveira asked.We got what we deserved, he added. But to know we were I cant say were better than a team that never lost.Thrilled about winning provincial bronze? Not exactly.so close to the gold, it is a little upsetting.The Raiders did hang tough with St. Content? Absolutely.Oliveira attributed part of the Raiders We are quite satisfied.Christopher in the semifinal, trailing 1-0 That sums up the feelings of the St. Thomas Aquinas third-place finish to the fact that Aquinas until the final few minutes of the game. We got what weRaiders after finishing third at last weekends Ontario wasnt seeded at the tournament, meaning Aquinas played that contest without one of deserved. But to know we Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) boys AA the team had a tougher round-robin sched-its top players Anthony Ronca, who has a were so close to the gold,soccer championships in Windsor. After going 2-1-1 in the ule than the top-ranked teams faced and had soccer scholarship lined up at Northern it is a little upsetting.qualifying round and winning their quarter-final contest, the to rely heavily on its starters to get through Kentucky due to illness.Raiders dropped a tough 2-0 decision to eventual champion the qualifying round.But the Raiders managed to rebound STA coach Jorge OliveiraSarnia St. Christopher before rebounding to hammer Tournament seedings were based on each from the semifinal loss to deliver a spirited Windsor W.C. Kennedy 4-0 in the bronze-medal game.teams regions results at OFSAA at the previ-effort in the bronze-medal game. Oliveira It is very hard to medal at OFSAA, so any type of medal I ous five tournaments.said the win over W.C. Kennedy should pay dividends in the guess is what we were looking for, said Aquinas coach Jorge But how can you begrudge a team (like top-seeded St. See Bronze, page 19