Vaughan Ontario - Ontario Soccer Centre 

After going 3-0-1 in the OCAA indoor soccer regionals. The Colts needed to continue their top form to medal at this year's Indoor Soccer Championship. 

During regionals, the team showed significant improvement since the fall semester. In game 1, the Colts upset the Durham Lords 2-1 before going on to beat the Lakehead Orioles Thunderwolves and Confederation Thunderbirds in Games 2 and 3. With dead legs, the Colts valiantly fought against the defending champions, Humber Hawks, but fell 6-0 after being short-handed from several blue cards for the majority of the game.

At the championship, the Colts were off to a slow start. They dropped their first game to the George Brown Huskies, 4-1. But as Coach Rich always says to his players “flush it away, forget about it, it's time to shift our focus to the next game.” That’s exactly what they did as they played a sound defensive match, shutting down the Sheridan Bruins and winning 1-0. 

Sitting at 1-1-0 after 2 games, the Colts needed to win or draw their final game against the St. Clair Saints if they were to have a chance to make it to the medal round the next day. Since St. Clair tied the Sheridan Bruins, the Saints needed to win to make it to the next day, and you could see from the early going that they there the more desperate team. In the first half, the Colts seemed dead; sloppy passes and miss-timed runs were the stories of the first half, and to make matters worse, the Colts conceded an early goal after some miscommunication from the back line. 

This is familiar territory though for a team that has had to fight back on several occasions. It was Coach Rich Hirst's steady hand and constant encouragement that rallied the team in the second half. 

With Captain Emily Cullen moving more into an offensive position, and Kira Ireson terrorizing the mid-field with her incredible work rate, the Colts pressed the Saints for the majority of the second half. It wasn’t until the final 2 minutes of the game that the Colts broke through. After the Saints turned the ball over in their end, it was Emily Cullen who came in off the right-hand side to whip a bullet low cross past 2 outstretched Saints players to Emilee Duncan, who tapped in the easy goal, sending the Colts to the final four. With the tie, the Colts finished 4th in the round robin, meaning they would play the Humber Hawks in the Semi-Finals, a rematch from their regional tournament. 

Unfortunately, during the semis, it was much of the same, as the Humber Hawks rolled to an easy 4-0 win. Making matters worse, the Colts would lose their captain, Emily Cullen, in a bad foul at the end of the Humber game. The injury was so significant that she would be unable to assist the team in their Bronze Medal game. It would come down to another rematch against the George Brown Huskies if the Colts were to win a medal. 

Down one of their best players and leader, the Colts seemed unsure of themselves in the early going. The Huskies also seemed to be going through it. They were a team that appeared to have given their all in their semifinal match-up against the Seneca Sting, narrowly losing 1-0. Despite being banged up and bruised, the Huskies controlled the majority of the game early on. The Huskies seemed to get everything they wanted despite not being in top form. Thankfully for the Colts, their keeper Jordyn Chrons-Slaght made several fantastic saves to keep the team in it. Buoyed by their keeper's performance, the Colt's counterattack came to life near the end of the first half. Things seem to finally go right for the Colt's offence as a missed played ball by the George Brown Huskies led to an easy goalscoring opportunity for forward Mylie Decoff, who put the colts up 1-0.

The Huskies wouldn’t be down for long as they capitalized on a penalty kick to tie the game before entering the second half. 

The second half was a much tighter affair, with both teams playing stellar defence. The Colts had two incredible chances to score, but were unable to capitalize, meaning the game would go to overtime. With a golden goal rule in effect, it was, do or die for 10 minutes. Despite the added time, neither team would break through and the game would go on to penalty kicks to decide the winner. 

Both teams scored easily on their first two opportunities, but it would be on the third shot from Huskie's Nicole Carvalho where keeper Jordyn Chrons-Slaght would come up huge with a diving save on the right side to put the Colts up one. With both the Huskies and the Colts, making their fourth penalty kicks, it would come down to first-year midfielder Kira Ireson to seal the win for the Colts. She stepped up to the box spot and buried it in the bottom right corner, winning the bronze medal for the Centennial Colts. Speaking to Chrons-Slaght after the game about her performance during penalty kicks she said " I dunno, I just had a feeling, I saved that PK in the first half, but they scored on the rebound, but I still felt like I could read their players well. During the shoot-out, I just watched their eyes, read their bodies, and moved in position to make the save. I JUST missed the first two shots, but oh well, all I needed was one!". 

Speaking to Coach Rich after the tournament, he shared some thoughts on his team's performance, "These student-athletes continue to amaze me. 10 players fighting through 120 minutes yesterday to play 80 today is just incredible. Colts DNA is recognized daily now - Resilience and No Surrender." 

After the tournament, Colts Captain Emily Cullen was announced as a Tournament All-star.