By Larry Moko
St. Mary's Crusaders came home from the 2026 OFSAA girls' soccer tournament in Belleville with the bronze medal and something more valuable -- playing experience.
"For a lot of our girls, it was their first time being at OFSAA," St. Mary coach Lora te Boekhorst said. "That will fuel us for the future. It was a wonderful experience for the team."
Coach te Boekhorst said her Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference champions learned a lot at the three-day, 20-team, AA high school competition en route to its third-place finish.
"We're young," the coach added. "Seven and sometimes eight of my 11 starters are in Grade 9 or 10."
In the bronze-medal game, St. Mary defeated the Lord Dorchester Beavers, 4-2.
Earlier, the Crusaders finished second in their pool (3-1) and rallied from a two-goal deficit to down Guelph's Bishop Macdonell Celtics, 3-2, in a quarter-final.
In the semifinal, however, the Crusaders bowed, 3-1, to Bolton's St. Michael Thunder.
"The OFSAA tournament is such a grind," the Crusaders coach added. "You try to find the strength to get through seven games in three days."
Only two of the players -- Cara Cheeseman and Madison Gratton -- were with the team two years ago when it won silver at provincials in St. Thomas.
"My entire attacking midfield and forwards are all in Grade 9 or 10," te Boekhorst said. "That's exciting."
Goal scorers for St. Mary were Evelyn Adams, Kaligh McQueen, Lauren Gratton, Quinn Vrbanic and Kamryn Porco. Other members of the team include goalkeeper Mia Mazzuca, Hailey Dunham, Clare Castelli, Lyla Vrbanac, Jordyn Sembay, Tatiana Mbuagbaw, Ariel Peters, Lilian Girard, Emma Rooney and Nevaeh Jasquith.
Said te Boekhorst: "Kamryn is a high-level soccer player who also qualified in track for OFSAA (also held last weekend in St. Catharines). So she had to choose between the two.
"To say she was vital to our wins is an understatement."
Another important goal was scored by McQueen. It came against Bishop Macdonell on the fifth shot of a quarter-final shootout. Said the coach: "In the shootout, four of my five shooters were in Grade 9 or 10."
Te Boekhorst was pleased with the team's response after suffering the loss to St. Michael.
"We came out with a positive attitude after losing the semifinal," she said. "You really have to dig deep to find the courage and the will to try and get up for the next game.
"I felt we played really well, though, against Dorchester. We came out firing. There's only two teams that go out with a win at a tournament like OFSAA -- from the gold-medal game and the bronze-medal game."
The Denis Morris Reds of St. Catharines won the championship. They defeated the Crusaders, 1-0, in pool play to finish first, ahead of St. Mary, in the standings.
"Against Denis Morris we hit a crossbar, a post and had about four other great challenges on goal," te Boekhorst said. "Their win over us gave them and easier schedule through the playoff round."
Other round-robin victories by St. Mary were over Silverthorn CI, 3-0, over Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes, 7-0, and over Fort Frances, 9-0.
A former gold-medal winner as a player for St. Mary, te Boekhorst said the team's future looks promising.
Last month the Crusaders finished third in the AAA Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic standings with a 4-2 regular-season record. They then topped the St. Jean de Brebeuf Braves, 5-2, in a quarter-final before dropping a 1-0 semifinal to the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals.
To qualify for OFSAA, St. Mary blanked St. Kateri, 6-0, for the GHAC title.
"We dominated that game," the Crusaders coach said.
Te Boekhorst said the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league -- with six AAA entries -- is one of the toughest in the province in terms of competitive strength.
