Slaney said
limiting Marystown’s scoring chances and relying on its
team’s talented strikers to produce was basically the game
plan.
“We knew they
(United) were going to play a defensive game and probably
look for their chances on the deep ball. We knew that if
we eliminated their chances, we’d eventually get ours with
Rudy (Norman) and Richard (Kelly) up front,’’ Slaney
noted.
Kelly, the most
dangerous player on the field all weekend, opened the
scoring at the 38-minute mark when he broke into the clear
and drilled the ball past United goalkeeper Scott Edwards
from the top of the penalty box.
Marystown
evened the score 18 minutes into the second half.
Craig Edwards
beat Laurentian keeper John Douglas from a close-range
scramble after Douglas made a great save on Vinnie
McDougall, who played very well at the back for Marystown.
Chris Caines restored the lead for the Laurentians 10
minutes later and Norman, with help from Kelly, completed
the scoring with seven minutes to play.
“We knew they
were going to come at us hard,’’ said Slaney. “They are a
veteran a team with a lot of heart. They tied the game up
and we knew at that point that we had to settle down,
compose ourselves and play our game and we did.”
Slaney felt the
players grew as a team from the experience of having lost
the past two seasons.
“We worked a
little harder this time around,” he said.
Laurentians
captain Blair Aylward, who along with Slaney, now has 10
provincial championships to his credit, said this year’s
win was “a very special one.”
“We did this
with a lot of younger players,” noted Aylward. “We were
without guys like Harry Kelly and Bob Spearns and we still
won, so maybe we can start another dynasty.”
Aylward said
there’s pressure for the Laurentians to win all the time
and “It gets worse when you don’t win. St. Lawrence
expects the Challenge Cup every year and we like it that
way. But when we lose we let the fans down and the
pressure builds to get it back.”
Both keepers
played well and had big saves over the 90 minutes, but the
Laurentians just had too much scoring punch and, in the
end, that was the difference.
Marystown, the
defending champions who won the title by beating the
Laurentians in St. Lawrence last year, had to play three
games in three days as they did last season, but it was a
much tougher task this time around.
“It was a big
time factor,” United’s captain Darrell Stewart said after
the match. “The two games we had to play to get to the
final this weekend were way harder than the ones we had to
play last year. It took a lot out of us and we didn’t have
the (scoring) power up front like we did last year, so
that’s what basically killed us.”
Marystown made
it to the final by beating Holy Cross/The Keg 1-0 Saturday
and shutting out Mount Pearl/That Pro Look/Molson 1-0 on a
goal by Nick Hurley in Sunday’s semifinal. St. Lawrence
earned a bye to the final by defeating Mount Pearl 3-1
Saturday.
Laurentians
coach Derek Strang got the loudest applause when his name
was announced to accept his championship medal. Strang, a
former Laurentian assistant coach was named co-coach with
Jack Simms this season, but had to handle the full job
when Simms resigned late in the season.
Strang said he
knew the pressure was on him and his players but he felt
he had a good enough team to win it all.
“In a game of
soccer anything can happen, but I felt we were prepared
and I felt confident we could win and that I could help my
team win.”
Strang said the
team had a weekend off just after Simms quit which, he
says, was probably good for the club.
“We had a camp
in St. John’s and we sat down and we talked about the
situation and cleared everything up.
“There was no
problem. I never had a problem with Jack and I felt I had
the support of the players from the beginning,” said
Strang who had been an assistant coach with the team for
the past two years.
However, the
classy young mentor admitted “It was a bit of an awkward
situation” to have co-coaches.
“Still, things
were going fine, but Jack decided there should be only one
coach. In fact, that decision made it a little easier on
us instead of causing any controversy,’’ Strang said.
Strang said
losing the past two season gave the team “a different
perspective on the game.”
He felt the
team played well enough to win last year, but missed Kelly
who couldn’t play because of card trouble. The Laurentians
lost in a close match to first-time winners Mount Pearl
two years ago.
Referee Mike
Edmunds handed out five yellow cards, including three to
the winners.
St. Lawrence
will now represent the province at the nationals next
month in Calgary.
