The St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Junior Boys NDA Champions travelled to Sudbury Friday to represent North Bay in NOSSA action.
The undefeated Bears faced off in semi-final action against College-Notre Dame. The team came out strong with 5-1 victory over the high school from Sudbury. With Korah Collegiate High School defeating St.Charles of Sudbury in the other semi-final match up, the two squads were to square off in the NOSSA Championship.
In the championship game, the Bears came out to another quick start with a goal from Chase Lefebvre. The first half was led by the Bears attack with a great deal of possession and counter attacks.
“We knew coming into today’s games that we’d have to play our best soccer of the year and as coaches, we felt as though we came through with some clutch performances," said coach Frank Ricciuti.
"Each one of the boys should be proud at the way they played today to represent North Bay.".
The Bears made a substitution 15 minutes into the game with Rowan “Art” Murphy entering in as a striker.
This ended up being a timely change up front as Rowan scored a crucial goal to make it 2-0 over the Colts going into second half action.
“A lot of credit has to be given to the crew we have this year," Ricciuti notes.
"They were all on board at getting things rolling very early in the year (late February) which definitely gave them an extra ‘step’ in some of these tighter games."
With both teams sharing scoring opportunities, Riccardo Celebre and his defensive line were able to keep Korah off the score sheet and secure a 3-0 win with Devin Beaucage getting a goal with 20 minutes remaining.
“The boys were able to turn it up a notch these two games and represented North Bay very well," said coach Anthony Nucara.
"Our substitutes were really able to pitch in and it paid off for us in the end. We’re very proud of this group and to be able to bring home both an NDA and NOSSA banner."
