By Larry Moko
It's beginning to look a lot like the year 2012 for former St. Jean de Brebeuf Catholic Secondary School student and teacher Peter Bonfiglio.
He's the coach of Oakville's Holy Trinity Titans, the Halton Catholic squad that defeated Hamilton's Bishop Tonnos Titans, 4-1, in a Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference girls' high school soccer semifinal Monday.
Thirteen years ago, Bonfiglio guided Holy Trinity to an OFSAA gold medal in the sport. And, from June 5-7, Holy Trinity will be the host entry again for the 2025 AAA provincial showcase event.
"I hope we can duplicate that run," Bonfiglio said. "There are a lot of similarities between the two teams. To be honest, we're actually deeper than we were in 2012."
Holy Trinity captured bronze at OFSAA in Windsor last season.
The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league champions from Tonnos needed to win the GHAC semifinal playoff in order to advance. Holy Trinity didn't. Oakville's Titans punched their ticket earlier this month by winning a Halton Catholic Athletic Association quarter-final over the Assumption Crusaders.
"In the second half of this game we picked up the intensity and played better," Tonnos coach Christina Barbati said. "But in the first half, we were ball watching. They scored three quick goals and stunned us."
Grade 9 student Delila Bedenikovic fired in two of those goals while singles went to Nicole Rossi and Victoria Hawkins.
Tonnos got on the scoreboard in the second half when Ilaria Mele's corner kick deflected into the net off the goalkeeper. The home team threatened to score again late in the second half when Mele's younger sister, Viviana, raced behind the HT defence and blasted a high shot that required the keeper to make an excellent save.
"They have players who can find the back of the net and we didn't have that today," Barbati said. "I changed the formation and we were putting on a little more pressure, but we didn't have any great opportunities except for Viviana's."
The Tonnos coach said the Meles were key to the team's success this season.
"They're both clutch players," she said. "They work well together because the chemistry is always on."
Ilaria, a Grade 11 student, has agreed to play after next season for Niagara University, while Viviana has signed with the provincial program.
"They're really top-notch players," Barbati said.
Bonfiglio was pleased with his team's showing after a disappointing 2-1 loss to Burlington Notre Dame in a league semifinal the week before.
"I thought this was a complete performance," he said. "We were very composed. Getting the early goal helped us. It kind of settled us down.
"We had a bad result last week. We're trying to get better and get ready for OFSAA."
In the other GHAC semifinal, Milton's Bishop Reding Royals edged the Garth Webb Chargers, 3-2. That sets up a GHAC championship game May 27 between Reding and Holy Trinity.
Said Barbati: "GHAC is a tough conference to play in. It would have been nice to come out on top, but Holy Trinity is an amazing team."
Bonfiglio points out that in 2014 he also agreed to host the provincial finals in Oakville. "OFSAA asked me to host even though Holy Trinity wasn't in it," he said.
Twenty teams will be playing at Holy Trinity and two other Oakville sites to determine the medal winners.
Photos by Richard Andoga
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here