On Monday, May 15, the Loyalists travelled to the Welland Youngs Sportsplex to take on the DSBN Academy Argonauts. A win would see RLA claim the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier Two regular season championship and gain home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Academy set the tone early on, controlling the middle of the field and exposing the large gap between the Argonauts’ defensive line and midfield. RLA dominated possession throughout the game and created chance after chance. The Academy established a large 5-0 lead by the half thanks to goals from Oscar Oceguera (2), Ramiro Torres (2), and Reece Continelli(1).
With the secure five-goal advantage, the Loyalists changed their lineup and focused on getting new players on the scoresheet for the first time, even giving our goaltender Kevin Buechler minutes in the midfield.
The team’s best players unselfishly shared the ball in the second half, creating chances for other players. Our second-half goals came from Chumee Ihedioha, Vidhya Petit, Fode Kaba, Bryan Davies, and Oscar Oceguera.
In the end, the Academy’s 10-3 victory assured Robert Land would finish top of the table in the regular season.
Up next, the first-place Loyalists will play in the semi-finals on Thursday, May 25, at the Welland Youngs Sportsplex. This week, the student selected to wear the #8 jersey as their dress of the day, recognizing their hard work and representation of the school’s values on the soccer field, is Chumee Ihedioha. The tradition was started in 2016 to honour Lt. Dugas, a former soccer coach who passed away that year.
