www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, November 13, 2014 | 52 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports Loyola Hawks guard Jaelyne Kirkpatrick (with ball) attempts a shot while being defended by Holy Trinity's Jill Condron (centre) and Delaney Hughes Monday at Sheridan College. Kirkpatrick scored 23 points to lead all players in Loyola's 6742 victory over the Titans in the Halton high school senior girls' basketball Tier 1 final. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog "Connected to your Community" The Sheridan College Bruins whoop it up after winning the Canadian college men's soccer championship Saturday. | photo by Adam Johnston -- Special to the Beaver Sheridan wins national soccer title on home turf by Adam Johnston Special To The Beaver Hawks resume perch atop Halton hoops by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor This time, the Loyola Hawks weren't caught looking ahead. The Hawks won their third Halton high school senior girls' basketball Tier 1 championship in four years Monday, defeating the Holy Trinity Titans 67-42 at Sheridan College. The interruption in Loyola's Halton title run came last fall, when the Hawks cruised through an undefeated regular season before stumbling in the semifinals, losing 47-46 to the Nelson Lords on a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Loyola once again went unbeaten in regular-season play this year -- running its winning streak in league action to 36 games -- and then crushed Nelson 64-25 in the semifinals. "Last year, we were overconfident. We weren't ready for the (playoffs)," said Hawks forward Stephanie Findlay, who scored 11 points and contributed some hard-nosed play around both baskets for Loyola Monday. "This year was the exact same (semifinal matchup) and we were so much more ready. We practised every day. We were a lot better of a team this year. Last year, we were a bunch of individuals. This year, we came together and did a lot of team building." That focus and cohesion was on display in the second half Monday. Trinity, whose only loss this season was a 59-44 defeat at Loyola Oct. 9, kept things close in the opening 16 minutes, trailing the Hawks 31-24 at the intermission. Loyola opened its lead to 49-36 after three quarters, then started the fourth on a 16-2 run to completely break the game open. Jaelyne Kirkpatrick, the Hawks' star guard who plays for the Canadian junior team and recently committed to the University of Illinois, led all scorers with 23 points. Teammate Sam Pocrnic added 15, nine of them coming in the opening quarter. Tiffany McNeil was the Titans' top scorer with 19 points, and Jill Condron scored 11. "I thought (the Titans) were fantastic. They really came with intensity," said Hawks coach Chris Pauletto. "I was impressed with the way we were able to hang in there today. We gave up a lot of points inside in the first half before we started to see the ball bounce our way." In addition to the Halton championship, the Hawks' victory also earned them a potentially easier path to their first Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAAA tournament, though Trinity also remained alive for OFSAA. Loyola was scheduled to host Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic finalist St. Jean de Brebeuf yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon in the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinals, while the Titans had to visit HWC champion St. Thomas More. Both games concluded after the Beaver's press deadline. Winners of both contests would qualify for OFSAA, since GHAC has two berths in this year's tournament. The Sheridan Bruins won the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men's soccer championship Saturday on their home turf in Oakville, defeating the Vancouver Island University Mariners 5-4 in a game that seemed like it might never end. The game was decided in penalty kicks, which also went into extra shooters, when Bruins' midfielder Chris Di Vizio-Mendes converted on his shot to seal the victory for Sheridan in theatrical fashion. "This is the one thing I came back for, and today it actually happened," said Bruins fifth-year captain, and Oakville resident, David Velastegui. "So, for me, it felt like a movie almost, and the ending was just perfect." Regulation play saw a number of dramatic lead changes but ultimately finished in a 3-3 draw, as VIU forward Victor Blasco beat Bruins goalkeeper Daniel Voci on a penalty kick awarded in extra time. "I was so mad, but I kept it cool," said third-year Sheridan head coach Andrew Seuradge, referring to the questionable penalty that led to the tying goal. "We have great players, our players dig. They're rookies on paper, but those guys have been playing at a high level, so I knew they were going to dig." First-year forward Raheem Edwards scored his second goal of the game in the first minute of overtime, putting the Bruins back on top 4-3. He celebrated with a cartwheel into a backflip, before running over to kiss his girlfriend. However, the Mariners fought back again and midfielder Luke Phye silenced the crowd in the 115th minute with an equalizer to send the game into penalty kicks. Seuradge again seemed unfazed, unsurprisingly, considering his team pulled out a nail-biting victory only 48 hours earlier, defeating Cegep Garneau Elans in penalty kicks to advance to the gold-medal game. Each team capitalized on their first five shots in Saturday's final, until VIU missed on its sixth, setting the stage for Di VizioMendes' heroics. Velastegui, in particular, is excited to have won a gold medal on see Sheridan on p.53