Sports

Lawrence Park claims gold in AAA girls soccer

Panthers doubted they would make it past the quarterfinals but proved otherwise

BRIAN BAKER/STREETER
NOT SO GREEN: Grade 9 Jamie Dorovenis, left, and Grades 10 Lauren Yoshida and Alyson Reeves provide some experience coming back next year, as the Lawrence Park CI girls’ soccer team won OFSAA gold.

The Lawrence Park Collegiate girls’ soccer team didn’t even know if they would make it to the quarter-finals of OFSAA, but with a little effort and a little confidence, they took Windsor by force in early June.

It was exam week at the Chatsworth Crescent school when Jamie Dorovenis, Alyson Reeves and Lauren Yoshida shared their golden elation.

“We had to win by two goals,” Dorovenis said, her excitement stifled by her hushed tone. “Then we went into double overtime.”

It’s true, the crew had to win by two goals in order to advance further in the playoff round. They did so, handily, putting up five goals against Donald A. Wilson of Whitby, winning 5-3. Three of those goals came from overtime, as the troupe was buoyed by multi-goal games from Quinn Johnston and Maddy Skinner.

From that moment, they improved on their 2017 OFSAA showing, advancing to the semifinals against A.B. Lucas Secondary School of London. They won that on a lone goal effort by Danielle Konig. Reeves earned the shutout.

“Going into it, we were just really proud to get there. We didn’t really think about it,” Dorovenis said. “We just went out there, tried our best but when we saw we were playing just as well as the other team, we just pushed it. And we won.”

In the final, the team ousted Dr. Frank J. Hayden of Burlington 2-0. Grace Reszetnik and Maddy Skinner put up the goals, while Reeves netted another shutout.

Though a bulk of the team’s scorers are seniors, the core will be back, and that’s a good thing for head coach Doug Hunnisett, who lauded his sophomore goalie for making some key stops.

“Even that final game, in all games, there is a part of the game where you’re on your heels. And man, for the first 15 minutes of that game, we were on our heels,” he said. “We got a couple of chances and we started to play a little better. Then we got that one goal and it changed things.”

For 2019, the team looks to be strong. Reeves will be back between the pipes, and the midfield Yoshida will rejoin Dorovenis.

“I think we have the experience and we’re going to go into it positively,” Reeves said. “We’re going to have a lot of good players this year.”

As for a successful year at the provincials, across multiple sports, across multiple teams, to the Panthers’ sports is where their family is.

“LP is family because everyone is just so nice to each other,” Yoshida said. “You’ll see some teams and they’re yelling at each other. LP doesn’t do that.”

Other members of the soccer family include Ariana Bill, Sarah Clegg, Paige Wedner, Jamie Samson, Claudia Kuzmich, Beatrice Ahmed, Emily Carew, Arden Parker, Breah Tanner, Zoe Peres, Emma Mazzei, Olivia Rizakos, Sofia Girling and Sydney Dyck.

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