Too little too late applied to the Montague Vikings as the Charlottetown Rural Raiders scored a 2-1 win in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association senior division gold medal game Wednesday in Charlottetown.
The Raiders had a 2-0 edge late in the second half on a pair of goals from Isabella Thompson until Kelly Clements rewarded her pressing and desperate Vikings squad with a goal that cut the lead to one.
But the Rural defence and the ticking clock kept the marauding Vikings at bay and the Raiders avenged last year’s gold medal loss to Montague.
“Just so excited, so proud of my team. We just played really well as a team, we were communicating really well. It was one of our best games yet,” said Thompson, who was on the losing side in 2016 and credited her team with the goals. “Just the whole team was working really well and I got lucky. I was in the right place.”
Montague carried play early in the first half, but a counterattack by the Raiders resulted in a crisp cross-field pass to a wide open Thompson and the Grade 11 student buried her shot past Vikings goaltender Kristen MacIntyre six minutes in.
That 1-0 lead lasted until nine minutes into the second half when Thompson, who was named tournament MVP, shook loose again and rifled another shot by MacInytre.
At 2-0 the Vikings awoke and buzzed around the Rural net, but the Raiders held tough defensively until Clements blasted a low bullet past Rural goalie Kali Sproul and closed things to 2-1 with fewer than three minutes to play.
But the turning point, said Clements, came earlier than that.
“Not till the last half (of the second half). In the last 10 minutes we realized (we had to press) but there were too few ticks on the clock,” said the Grade 12 student. “An extremely close game. Give it to them they came out in the end. It was neck and neck.”
Clements has faced Charlottetown Rural in six straight PEISAA gold medal games in intermediate and senior going back to Grade 7.
The Colonel Gray Colonels won the bronze medal with a 1-0 victory over the Bluefield Bobcats.
Hanna Fong scored seven minutes into the first half and goalie Tessa Hood held the fort for the shutout.
