PEISAA 2024 Soccer Championships

PEISAA SOCCER: Bluefield Bobcats sweep AAA titles

Jason Simmonds · Journalist

The Bluefield Bobcats repeated as P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior AAA Girls Soccer League champions on Oct. 26. The Bobcats defeated the Three Oaks Axewomen 1-0 in the gold-medal game, played at the Terry Fox Sports Complex in Cornwall. Members of the Bobcats are, front row, from left: Saidbh Mahar, Allie Bowers, Lily Sanderson, Janie Reardon, Lila Arsenault, Miley Stevenson, Noleigh McCourt and Kali MacNeill. Back row: Andrew Reardon (head coach), Mylah Campbell, Maëlie Daigle, Ava Tremere, Kelsey Adams, Olivia MacDougall, Josie MacLean, Sophie LeClair, Ashlyn Monaghan, Claire Connolly, Aleah Craswell and Randy Reardon (assistant coach). – Contributed

CORNWALL, P.E.I. — The Bluefield senior AAA soccer teams capped a big week for the Hampshire, P.E.I.-based high school.

After the Bluefield senior boys’ baseball team repeated as P.E.I. School Athletic Association (PEISAA) champions on Oct. 23, the Bobcats swept the PEISAA senior AAA soccer titles at the Terry Fox Sports Complex in Cornwall on Oct. 26.

The Bluefield girls got by the Three Oaks Axewomen 1-0 while the Bobcats topped the defending champion Colonel Gray Colonels 3-1 in the boys’ final.

“We had not won a championship since 2011 and then to go back-to-back is special,” said Andrew Reardon, head coach of the Bluefield girls. “It is always nice to send the senior class out with a win in their final games.”

“We had not won a championship since 2011 and then to go back-to-back is special. It is always nice to send the senior class out with a win in their final games.” – Andrew Reardon

In the case of the Bluefield boys, the team was motivated to win the school’s first provincial senior AAA title since October 2019.

“We had been building up the past couple of years where we had really solid teams and just had a bad break here and there in the semifinals, where we didn’t get to the final,” said Ryan Laughlin, head coach of the Bluefield boys. “We had a good core of Grade 12 players coming in that understood that, and wanted to take the advantage of being in that final.”

Girls

The Bluefield girls certainly did not have an easy road as the No. 4 seed in the playoffs. The Bobcats edged Colonel Gray 1-0 in a quarter-final game and then upset the top-seeded Charlottetown Rural Raiders by an identical score on the road in a semifinal contest.

Against third-seeded Three Oaks, Lyla Arsenault scored what proved to be the winning goal at the 19-minute mark in the evenly played final. Josie MacLean made the goal stand up by recording a clean sheet.

“We were not going to take Three Oaks for granted and not underestimate them,” said Reardon. “We knew we had to go in, play hard and play our game plan.

“They did that right to the end and they were a great group of girls to coach. They did their jobs when they needed to and pulled out the win.”

“We were a relatively younger team; not as experienced as a couple of the other teams. But the girls pulled together and played great soccer as a team.” – Andrew Reardon

The Bobcats graduated nine players from last year’s championship team and had six seniors on the 2024 squad.

“We were a relatively younger team; not as experienced as a couple of the other teams,” said Reardon, who coached the team with his brother, Randy Reardon. “But the girls pulled together and played great soccer as a team.

“Randy and I are proud of the girls and they played amazing all year. They probably exceeded a lot of people’s expectations as far as going into the playoffs as the fourth seed.”

Boys

The boys’ final featured top-seeded Bluefield and No. 2 seed Colonel Gray. The teams were separated by only one point.

“It was a unique situation where we had not had the opportunity to play Colonel Gray because their team was away for club nationals,” said Laughlin. “We didn’t play each other in the regular season, so it was one of those situations where we hadn’t faced each and we were going in hearing things here and there but not really knowing each other very well.

“The year before when we played the conditions were so bad you could not equate what the skill level of each team was because it was just that type of game.”

James Toombs scored in the first half to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead at halftime. Toombs, with his second of the game, made it 2-0 in the 58th minute and a goal by Jonathan Kent increased Bluefield’s lead to 3-0 in the 77th minute.

Seth Lawless scored for the Colonels with five minutes remaining.

The winning keeper was Owen Arsenault.

“We had, I would say, one of the more complete teams I have coached over my years in Bluefield,” said Laughlin. “From our keeper being a Grade 10 player right up through to our back line, which has been the strongest back line I have been a part of.

“Our players and I came in really confident with our system, how we played and understood our strengths and how we could play to them.”

Bronze medals

PEISAA senior AAA soccer bronze-medal game results:

Oct. 25

At Terry Fox Sports Complex (Cornwall):

Girls

Charlottetown Rural 4 – Westisle 0

Scoring for Charlottetown Rural – Sadie Hansen (2), Maiya Chaudary (2).

Charlottetown Rural led 3-0 at halftime.

Maya Fisher recorded the shutout.

****

Boys

Charlottetown Rural 7 – Westisle 1

Scoring for Charlottetown Rural – Jack Callaghan (2), Liam Moore, Matthew Rooney, Dalton Gas, Campbell Dunn, own goal. For Westisle – Jared Kenan.

Rural led 1-0 at halftime.

Jason Simmonds is a sports editor with The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached by email at jason.simmonds@theguardian.pe.ca and followed on X @JpsportsJason.