St. Andrew's College 1st Soccer went 6-0-0 on home soil at the three-day 2024 CAIS National Championship, including a 2-1 victory over Crescent School in Saturday's final, to claim their first Canadian title in eight years.
 

Saturday afternoon's championship final was the third in a row for the Saints, and a measure of revenge, having dropped one-goal finals to Crescent in the two most recent CAIS title games.

Early on, it looked like it might be more of the same for Crescent, as they got on the board first just six minutes into the final. SAC responded quickly however and controlled much of the ball for all 70 minutes. Through that sustained pressure, Jayden Walters '26 earned and converted a penalty 13 minutes in and provided the assist on a Joshua Henriques '26 goal from 20 yards out late in first stanza, which proved to be the game-winner.

In the second half, the Saints kept the Coyotes at bay and continued to push forward, with Walters, Merek Husack '27 and Nolan Martin '25 all being denied by the Crescent goalkeeper.

Along with the team title, SAC co-captain Sebastian Madeiros '25 was named the most valuable player of the championship game, as he pulled the strings from the midfield.

In the group stage of the event, the Saints topped Saltus Grammar School (Bermuda) 3-0, Lower Canada College (Quebec) 1-0 and Upper Canada College (Ontario) 4-1.

SAC then opened the knockout round with a comfortable 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Montreal's Selwyn House, before slipping past Saltus once again, this time by a 3-1 score line.

St. Andrew's College conceded just three goals in six games at the CAIS event, with Robert Barkman '26 collecting three clean sheets. On offence, Walters buried a tournament high seven goals and added two assists. Joe Duke '25 pitched in with four goals and two assists, while Henriques added a pair of game winning goals.

SAC 1st Soccer will get back to CISAA league action this week, with their regular season finale at home to St. Michael's College School.

Go Saints!

Upcoming Action:

Wed Oct 23 - SAC 1st Soccer vs St. Michael's College School, 1pm (CISAA - Yuill Field)

All home matches on Yuill Field are live streamed at:

https://www.youtube.com/@SACAthletics1899/streams