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32 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday June 9, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Eagles survive Loyola comeback to win AAA final in shootout By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF MILTON -- Lucas Santo's shot had barely hit the mesh when a flood of teammates and Abbey Park fans began rushing toward him. Santo's shootout goal gave the Eagles a 3-2 victory over the Loyola Hawks in Thursday's Halton senior boys' AAA soccer final. Though Loyola players slumped on the ground as Abbey Park celebrated, a loss may have been even more devastating for the Eagles, who had squandered an early 20 lead. WHO DOES IT... PROFESSIONAL PROFESSIONAL & SPECIALTY SERVICES COMPUTER SERVICES To advertise in this section Call Sheri 905-845-3824 Ext. 299 email: sdintino@oakvillebeaver.com "These guys have done this to me all year," Abbey Park coach Matt Brathwaite said of his team's dramatic victory. "Loyola's a great team. They're only a stone's throw away so it's been a good rivalry." But until Thursday, it had been a rivalry dominated by Loyola. Brathwaite said since joining Abbey Park as coach, the team was winless in its previous nine meetings (0-6-3) with Loyola, a streak extended when the teams tied 1-1 in the regular season. Meanwhile, the Hawks may have been hoping there was still some magic left for them. Just a couple hours earlier on the same field, the Loyola senior girls' team won 2-1 in overtime after coming back from a 1-0 deficit against Assumption. However, the odds of another Loyola victory didn't look good after Abbey Park surprised the Hawks with early goals by Santo and Sebastian Ungurean. "They came out a little hungrier than us and we settled down as the game went on," said Loyola coach Reno Malisa. "It's hard to fight back from 2-0 in soccer, but we did." A goal by Loyola's Steve Blaszko cut Abbey Park's lead to 2-1 in the half. His second goal of the game, which came less than a minute after the Eagles' Ungurean headed a ball off the post, tied the game in the second half. "Even after they scored the two goals, we knew we were going to score," said Loyola captain Patrick Kozakiewicz. "It was just a matter of putting them in." Loyola looked like they might have the winner early in the first of two overtime periods but Abbey Park goalie Cam Moffat made a diving save to deny the Hawks. Moffat would come up big again in the shootout, making a diving save on Mike Traynor on the first penalty kick. Abbey Park would also miss its first attempt before the teams traded goals -- Anthony Scalia and Kozakiewicz for Loyola, and Ungurean and Jamie McKeown for the Eagles. After a Loyola miss, Gihat Sukru tucked the ball just inside the left post to give the Eagles the lead. Francesco Leone kept Loyola's hopes alive but Santo won it when he caught the goalie leaning the wrong way. "I'm happy that we won but I've been on the wrong side of those, too," Brathwaite said. "It's such a tough thing. You can practice penalty kicks all you want but once you've played two 35minute halves, two 10-minute overtimes and then all of a sudden you're kicking with a crowd watching and cheering, it's totally different." Kozakiewicz added, "It seems kind of unfair but it's the luck of the draw. Someone has to win." Raiders win senior boys' AA crown The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders completed a sweep of the AA soccer titles with a 5-0 win over Burlington Central in Thursday's senior boys' Halton final. Details from that game will appear in an upcoming edition of The Oakville Beaver. Aquinas' girls' team blanked Acton 5-0 earlier in the day. Peewee Invictas at home tomorrow Winners of their first three regular-season games, the Oakville peewee Invictas will play their first home contest of the year tomorrow at Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School. Oakville will take on the Halton Hills Wildcats, a team that the Invictas spanked 33-7 in their season opener. Game time is scheduled for noon. The Invictas followed their win over Halton Hills with a 25-6 triumph over the Orangeville Outlaws and a 58-6 rout of the Tottenham/Beeton TNT Express. Oakville's scoring has been fairly balanced thus far, with wide receiver Brent Palmer pulling in five touchdown receptions and running backs Ashton Rochester and Robert Fusco contributing three majors each. The defence has also chipped in with three touchdowns, all coming on fumble recoveries. Quarterbacks Josh Adams, Ryan McInerney and Eric Manning have all shared a hand in guiding the Invictas offense. The Invictas, coached by Joe Moscato, are in their second season of play in the Ontario Minor Football League. Last year, Oakville reached the league final before falling to the Toronto Jr. Argos. SPORTSBRIEFS and 1,000m events at last weekend's World Cup competition in Gerardmer, France. The reigning Olympic 500m champion has now won both events at five straight World Cups, dating back to last season. Van Koeverden led wire-to-wire in the 1,000m, winning in a time of three minutes, 34.110 seconds. Ben Fouhy of New Zealand was second in 3:34.580. Van Koeverden followed that up by winning the 500m race on Saturday in a time of 1:39.885. Anders Gustafsson of Sweden was second in 1:40.200. In his only World Cup defeat over the past two years, van Koeverden broke the 1,000m world record time, only to be edged by Fouhy. Van Koeverden returned home in time to give the valedictorian address at his graduation at McMaster University Tuesday afternoon. He'll spend the coming months preparing for the world championships in Germany August 8-12, where he'll look to continue his winning streak. Atelier Salon & Spa Local ruggers help Canada mash U.S. Sean-Michael Stephen of Oakville scored two tries to lead Team Canada to a 52-10 rout of the United States at the Barclays Churchill Cup Bowl last weekend in Twickenham, England. Dan Pletch of Lucan, Ont., who plays for the Oakville Crusaders, also scored a try. Canada lost its previous two games, 59-23 to New Zealand Maori 59-23 and 39-20 to Ireland. The win over the U.S. enabled Canada to finish fifth in the tournament. Stephen, who plays professionally in France for Beziers, Pletch and his brother Mike Pletch, who also plays for the Crusaders, have been named to the Canadian rugby team that will play two games in New Zealand later this month. The Canadian squad will square off against the All Blacks on June 16. The second game will see Canada play the New Zealand under-21 development squad June 23. Another win for fencer Lyn Coming off medal-winning performances at the Canada Winter Games and provincial fencing championships, Alexandra Lyn won gold in the Cadet (under-17) women's foil division at the recent national fencing championships. Lyn defeated Ottawa's Jennifer Dunev in the final, claiming a 15-5 decision. Earlier in the competition, she posted wins over Samantha Leech (15-6), Alexandrine Morency (15-10), Alanna Goldie (15-3) and Jerrica Gu (15-12). Van Koeverden sweeps World Cup To place your business logo or name here, call your Classified Sales Representative today! 905.632.4440 Adam van Koeverden remains unbeatable on the World Cup circuit. The Oakville kayaker won both the 500-metre