The Bishop Fenwick girls and boys soccer teams both battled all the way to the finish this weekend, but in the end the Crusaders came up just short on both accounts in their respective CCL Cup Final games. The Fenwick girls fell to Bishop Feehan in penalty kicks, while the Fenwick boys lost to Archbishop Williams.
It came down to penalty kicks for the second straight game for the Bishop Fenwick girls soccer team, and this time the Crusaders just didn’t have enough magic left in the tank.
After three massive saves by Bishop Feehan goalkeeper Madison Breckner in the penalty kick period, Fenwick fell 3-2 to Feehan in the CCL Cup Final Saturday afternoon at McGrath Stadium.
The Crusaders got one goal each from Ally Mitchell and Elani Gikas, while Veronica Tache had one assist in the loss.
Fenwick was hot to start the game, striking first with just over four minutes to play when Fenwick scored on a phenomenal 35-yard kick that went just over the outstretched arms of Breckner to make it 1-0 Crusaders. That momentum continued right into the second quarter, when Mitchell took advantage of a mistake in the Feehan zone to get in all alone and knock one home to give Fenwick a 2-0 lead.
But Feehan never went away. Francesca Yanchuk scored once late in the second quarter and then again late in the fourth to tie the game and send it to overtime. When two overtime periods weren’t enough, it came down to penalty kicks.
Fenwick started things off in PKs, with Jenna Durkin getting stopped by Breckner. Feehan followed with a goal from Yankchuk, then Breckner stoned Lea Bettencourt to put the Shamrocks in the driver’s seat. Kaitryn Franchino scored for Feehan to go up 2-0 in PKs before Amy Hatfield kept Fenwick alive with a goal of her own. But then Briana Marrero scored, and Fenwick was down to their final shooter. McKenna Gilligan — who scored the game-winner in the semifinal — gave it her best try, but Breckner came through with an incredible diving save to end the game and give Feehan the title.
Saturday’s game was the end of the road for five Crusaders seniors — Mia Tsaparlis, Elanis Gikas, Veronica Tache, Lea Bettencourt and Jenna Durkin.
The Fenwick girls close the 2020 season with a 12-2-2 record.
It was nearly as close of a battle for the Fenwick boys on Saturday, but unfortunately for the Crusaders the results were the same. After a back-and-forth battle, Fenwick fell to Archbishop Williams by a score of 2-1 on the road.
“Williams is a well-coached team and it’s always one of my favorite games of our season because they’re such a challenge,” said Fenwick boys coach Tony Enos. “We played well and created opportunities ourselves, but (Saturday) was just one of those days where we couldn’t get a goal.”
Jack Andrews scored the lone goal in the loss for Fenwick, while Ryan Noci, Keiron Murray, Ryan Morgenstern and Sean Campbell also played well.
Williams jumped all over Fenwick in this one, scoring two goals in the first quarter to jump ahead to a 2-0 lead. The Bishops held that lead all the way to the halftime break.
In the third quarter, with Fenwick desperately needing a spark, Andrews got the Crusaders on the board. After the ball was sent deep into the Williams zone, Andrews beat Bishops goalie Nathan Morris to the ball and flicked it under the crossbar to cut the deficit in half.
But despite a number of solid scoring opportunities in the fourth quarter, including one that ended with a dramatic save by Morris in the final seconds, Fenwick couldn’t quite find the back of the net again.
“Those final five or six minutes, it really looked like we were going to score,” said Enos. “You’ve got to give credit to Williams, they really played a great game and earned that win.”
The Fenwick boys now say goodbye to a group of four seniors in Liam Foley, TJ Genzale, Aidan Dwyer and Andrew Perry.
“All four guys are just true team leaders,” said Enos. “We have a sort of unofficial rule each year, and that’s that we pick three captains. But this year, we couldn’t pick just three so we decided to name all four of them captains. It’s truly a phenomenal group of guys and it’s going to be tough to try and replace them next year.”
The Fenwick boys finish the season at 10-2-4.
