[templatic_contentbox type=”normal” title=”St. Thomas Masters B – 3rd Division Cup Champions”] Back Row: Ron Bobier, Nick Sulejmani, Shane Good, John Clarke, Steven Torok, Tim O’Neil, Jamie Smith Front Row: Tim Sheridan, Jeff West, Mike Smith, Mark Thomas, Paul Jeffrey, Willy Agius, Robert Meth Missing: Albert Kemmerling, Igor Toth, Joe Buttigieg, Mark Lewis, Paul Hook, Miki Hambelek, Aaron Renner, JP Rickwood [/templatic_contentbox]
The 3rd Division Cup is an in-season competition between teams in the Middlesex Masters 3rd, 4th, and 5th Divisions. This year, the St. Thomas Masters B team concluded their MMSL 2015 season by capturing the 3rd Division Cup for the first time in the club’s history.
Winning a championship at any level is typically done by overcoming adversities, and this was certainly evident for St. Thomas, as the road to the finals wasn’t an easy one for a veteran team assembled by long-time St. Thomas soccer player Ron Bobier.
The Preliminary round started against the 5th Div. Caribbean Stars, who took an early lead. But St. Thomas battled back late in the game to force overtime, and then won the match in a shootout. The adversity didn’t end there. The Round-of-16 opponent was the strong 4th Div. Three Lions, who also pushed St. Thomas to a penalty shootout, with ‘ageless wonder’ Willy Agius, and ‘scoring machine’ Jeff West leading the way for a second straight shootout victory.
The Quarter-finals saw a familiar opponent in a 3rd Div. PCL C team who finished tied for third place with St. Thomas in the regular season. A strong team effort resulted in a 2-1 victory for St. Thomas, as the team learned from their previous games and focused on a stronger defensive game. Another 3rd Division foe, Woodstock, was the Semi-Final opponent, and Bobier urged his team not to take them lightly, despite the team’s regular season success against them. The St. Thomas team responded well to that urging with a 4-2 victory and a berth in the final.
The Final pitted St. Thomas against the undefeated 3rd Division leaders, Sporting. But facing the strongest opponent to date wasn’t the only challenge that St. Thomas faced, as the team was also missing a few key players, and had a short bench for the final. The two teams had battled to a 0-0 draw after 45 minutes when adversity struck the St. Thomas team again. Regular keeper Mark Thomas, who had taken a hard hit in the first half, was forced to leave the game at halftime with a suspected cracked rib. Without a regular backup keeper, they turned to defender Robert Meth to take over the keeper duties for the first time all year. However, the change in keeper didn’t faze the strong defence-corps, led by Shane Good and Mike Smith, as they held the league’s top scoring team, Sporting, without a solid scoring opportunity for the remainder of the game. This defensive strength allowed St.Thomas to get their own potent offence going, as they rattled off four straight goals en route to a 4-0 championship victory.
Anyone who plays a sport will tell you that Championships are never easy to win. And this season, St. Thomas B overcame their share of adversities to achieve that lofty goal, walking off into the off-season as Masters of their domain.
Submitted by St. Thomas Soccer Club
