Monarchs a win away from unbeaten senior soccer season
Tue May 13, 2008

PICKERING -- The St. Mary Catholic Secondary School Monarchs senior girls' soccer team is one game away from an unbeaten league season on the pitch.

The Monarchs will go for first-place overall and a loss-free season today (Wednesday) against the Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School Saints at the Oshawa school.

The St. Mary seniors recorded their fifth Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics (LOSSA) league win of the season with a solid 4-0 shutout victory over the Sinclair Secondary School Celtics at the Whitby school on Monday afternoon.

Kayla De Souza, Christina Paterson, Natalie Guest and Shelby Forza were the Monarchs' goal scorers. Goalkeeper Jessica Vella earned the shutout.

On May 7, the Monarchs blanked the O'Neill Collegiate Redhawks 2-0 in Oshawa. Nicole Mayers and Paterson scored for St. Mary. Vella earned the shutout.

St. Mary co-coach Melanie Cayford notes the biggest surprise of the Monarchs' season is not so much the unbeaten record, but rather the cohesiveness of the players, some of whom were returning senior players, but most coming from last year's junior squad.

"I have been very pleased with the teamwork and enthusiasm of our players this season," says Cayford, who's joined on the sidelines by co-coaches Scott McDavid and Joe Visconti. "Since this year's senior team is a combination of two LOSSA (senior and junior) championship teams, we've been pleased with how well all the players have clicked on and off the field."

The Monarchs' seniors begins the quest to defend their LOSSA championship as playoff quarter-finals are expected to begin on May 22.

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