Villanova College strikes gold at OFSAA championships

June 11, 2014 · 0 Comments

Villanova College left a golden mark in both Mississauga and Windsor as student athletes took top honours in track and field and soccer.
Arielle Tessier, a Grade 9 student at King City’s Villanova College, made her OFSAA debut at the provincial Track and Field Championships held June 5-7 at St. Marcellinius Secondary School in Mississauga. Tessier did not disappoint, bringing home gold medals in both of her sprint events.
Despite negative wind conditions, Arielle won the midget girls’ 100-metre with a time of 12.24 seconds, nearly tying the OFSAA record of 12.20 and, in fact, tying the top junior girls’ time at the championship meet.
The Villanova College student then ran an incredible 24.81 seconds in the midget girls’ 200-metre final to earn her second OFSAA gold medal.
Arielle’s performance at OFSAA capped a stellar qualifier track season for the 14-year-old, under the coaching and mentorship of Villanova College’s head senior track coach Tonia Redhead, herself an accomplished former Canadian National track and field athlete.
Just over a week earlier, Tessier won the Metro Regional midget girls’ 100-metre sprint with a time of 12.35 seconds. Her time in the 100-metre was the best midget and junior girls’ time and tied with the top senior girls’ time at this OFSAA regional qualifier meet. In addition, Arielle won the midget girls’ 200-metre, with a time of 25.24 seconds, which was the fastest time of all the high school girls’ at the meet.
The road to OFSAA began when Arielle won the title of the 2014 CISAA midget girls’ champion in the 100m and 200m, setting new CISAA records in both events this year at the championship qualifier meet held in Oshawa on May 13-14.

Girls’ soccer team defends its title

Meanwhile in Windsor, the Villanova College senior girls’ soccer team was building on its golden legacy as defending CISAA champions and OFSAA “A” champions.
This year’s team equalled the record of last year’s by sporting a perfect 8-0-0 record in their regular season. The senior girls’ team also competed in a AAA/AAAA tournament in Niagara this spring, winning their group and defeating a strong AAAA team from Pickering in the semi-final only to lose in the final on a late goal to a AAAA school from Ajax.
Over the last six years the Villanova College senior girls’ soccer team has claimed two gold, a silver, and a bronze medal at OFSAA.
At this year’s championship tournament, the Villanova Lady Knights came out of pool play with a record of 2-0-1.
In game 1 versus St. Thomas of Aquinas the team posted a 7-1 win. Goals were scored by Amanda Tankovich, Selena Mangoni, Alessia Mangoni, Alyssa Lazzer (2) and Briana Decina (2).
In game 2 against Almaguin, the team scored an impressive 10-1 win.
In the final game of pool play, Villanova found a way to come back from 3-1 at half time to tie HC 4-4. With two wins and a tie, Villanova College captured first place in their division moving them into the quarter-finals to play against the University of Toronto School.
It was a tough match with Villanova defeating UTS 3-0. Senior Daniel Breda put her stamp on the game, scoring two goals and Sophmore Alessia Mangoni scoring one of her own. On Saturday morning Villanova defeated host school E.J. Lajeunesse 7-0 in semi-final action, giving the Lady Knights an opportunity to defend their OFSAA title.
Late Saturday afternoon, after playing 480 minutes of soccer, Villanova was able to celebrate back-to-back OFSAA titles with a 5-0 win over Glengarry HS. Goals were scored by Freshmen Ciera Deciana (2), Selena Mangoni, Daniela Breda and Alessia Mangoni.
These three OFSAA gold medals bring another successful scholastic athletic year to an end as Villanova College continues to build on its outstanding athletic tradition due to the dedication and talents of its student-athletes and coaches.