Bruins come up just short in final

Don Mills C.I. girl’s soccer team made it further into the playoffs than it ever had before, but it wasn’t enough to take the AAA city championship.

After a 1–0 loss to Leaside High School on May 30, the Bruins left the field a little dejected, but pleased with all they had accomplished.

“It meant the world to me,” said player Ruth Agyeman-Dasno. “It was really painful to see, but at the end of the day we put so much work into this game and we came really far, so I’m really proud of my team overall.”

Goalie Kiana Kalnins said the teams were evenly matched but one team had to walk away with the gold.

“No one was better than the other,” she said. “We worked hard and we worked well together it’s just a matter of luck I guess and the other team won.”

Many of the players commented on how physical the game was.

“It was extremely rough,” said Bendall. “I actually got a yellow card because I was playing too rough.”

From Kalnins’ angle she could tell both teams were being aggressive.

“There was a lot of elbowing and pushing,” she said. “But both teams were working hard, both want to go to OFSAA, so that’s just how the game goes, the game gets rough.”

Don Mills’ head coach Natalie Veneziale said the rough dynamic of the game did impact her players.

“It definitely frustrated the girls,” she said. “A lot of my girls are not very physical in that sense, they play a very clean game, a very skilled game, so I think it took them by surprise.”

Veneziale says that the officiating could have been better.

“I wasn’t impressed with the refereeing — I’ll put it that way,” she said with a laugh. “There were a lot of things that should have been called that weren’t that could have made the game run a little smoother and safer.”

Agyeman-Dasno agreed the referee’s calls negatively affected the game.

“I think if he made a couple of calls we would have had the chance to score and have a better advantage on the ball,” she said.
Veneziale said she has reason to be optimistic about the Bruins’ chances for next season.

“Majority of my girls are in grade 10 and I’m going to have them for two more years,” she said.

“Last year we got to the semis in city and this year we’re in the finals. We’re moving right up.”