North Star girls soccer team opens WECSSAA “AA” playoffs

North Star’s Rayah Crawford (7, foreground) heads upfield with the ball during last Tuesday afternoon’s game versus Essex. The Wolves won the game 3-1.

The North Star Wolves girls soccer team is heading into the WECSSAA “AA” playoffs on a bit of a roll.

The Wolves played two games last week and won them both, allowing them to finish the WECSSAA Tier II County “AA” regular season schedule with a 4-2 record.

They opened the playoffs Monday afternoon with a 2 p.m. home game against the Erie Migration Coyotes. The preliminary round game ended with a final score of 4-0 in favour of North Star, thus meaning the Wolves advanced to the next round of the WECSSAA playoffs today (May 14) at Riverside.

The weekend opened last Monday (May 5) with a home game at the Libro Centre against the visiting Kennedy Clippers. The Wolves had little trouble, as they knocked off the Clippers 9-1. 

June Buchner had a big day offensively as she scored five goals. Taliya Robson added a pair of goals in the win. Rayah Crawford and Aria Pare each scored a goal against Kennedy. Ada Faber, Anika Arce, Avery Harris, and the rest of the Wolves’ defensive core were credited as being instrumental in this win.

The Wolves hosted their rivals from Essex last Tuesday afternoon, also at the Libro Centre. The Wolves built a 2-0 lead before the Red Raiders scored but North Star tacked on another goal to win the game 3-1. 

Buchner’s scoring touch carried over into this game as she scored two more times with Robson adding another.

Wolves coach Joe Ciliberto said it was two solid games that were turned in by his team last week on back-to-back days.

“I think we were focused. We stuck to the game plan,” said Ciliberto after last Thursday afternoon’s game. 

North Star scored first in both games and that helped, he added.

“Our captains stepped up. The seniors stepped up and our rookie goalkeeper (Emersyn Oliver) was great.”

Ciliberto added he believes the Wolves have some momentum as they head towards the WECSSAA “AA” playoffs.

“We’ve played some really good soccer our last three games,” he said. “We really started playing together. Hopefully we keep doing that into the playoffs as well.”

The regular season was a good one, he believed, as Ciliberto said the Wolves were close in both games that they lost.

“We were right there,” he said.

North Star girls soccer team opens WECSSAA “AA” playoffs

By Ron Giofu