It was another night for the history books around Walter Murray Collegiate.
Last school year, the Marauders senior girls basketball squad won its first high school city title since 1995. On Monday night, the Murray girls ended another decades-long drought on a different field when the Marauders downed Taylor Street rival Holy Cross 3-0 to claim the school’s first girls Saskatoon high school soccer city championship since 1997.
Those two championships, 27 years apart, are the only times the Walter Murray girls squad held aloft the city title trophy. The program has only been back playing in the 11-versus-11 league for the past three seasons; for several years prior to that, the Marauders had been competing in the seven-versus-seven spring soccer league for schools unable to field a full squad.
The Marauders came into this post-season ranked fifth but have been on a roll over the past week. In the quarterfinals, they knocked off fourth-ranked Bishop Mahoney 4-1.
In the semifinals on Saturday, the Marauders stunned the top-ranked and defending city and provincial champions, St. Joseph, 2-0.
Then on Monday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, they handled the second-seeded Crusaders, who outscored their two prior playoff opponents by a combined score of 13-1.
Alice Turnbull, Marley Pells and Claire Bennett scored for the Marauders, who led 1-0 at halftime before adding two goals in the final 20 minutes to seal the title. Alongside Hazel Turnbull anchoring the defence, Sydney Deibert had her second straight playoff shutout.
For the Cross girls, it was a third consecutive city runner-up trophy. The previous two seasons, the Crusaders lost to St. Joseph in the gold-medal game.
On the boys side, Holy Cross got the best of a familiar foe in a stunningly one-sided affair.
In a rematch of the 2023 city and provincial finals, the second-seeded — but undefeated — Crusaders shut out top-ranked Centennial 5-0 on Monday.
The two teams had met twice this year, playing to 1-1 draws on both occasions. Last season, Centennial defeated Holy Cross in the city final only for the Crusaders to get revenge a week later in the provincial final.
On Monday, however, there was little back-and-forth drama to be found. Led by a hat trick from Tao Hein and a clean sheet from keeper Emmett Stabler, the Crusaders overwhelmed the Chargers. Valentino Silva and Sean Gibril each added a goal for Cross, who led 3-0 at halftime.
In league play, Holy Cross was undefeated, with six wins and four draws. Centennial topped the standings in overall points, thanks to seven wins, but they also had one loss and two draws.
The Crusaders now head to provincials with one goal in mind: become the first school to win four straight 5A championships. In 2022 and 2023, Cross lost in the city final but won provincial gold. In 2021, the Crusaders swept the city and provincial crowns.
The 5A boys provincial tournament is set for Friday and Saturday in Saskatoon. The 5A girls tourney takes place in Regina. All four city finalists compete at provincials.
FOOTBALL SEMIFINALS SET
On Thursday in the senior football 6A championship semifinals, top-ranked Holy Cross takes on fourth-seeded Centennial (5:15 p.m.) followed by second-ranked St. Joseph meeting third-seeded Walter Murray (7:30 p.m.). The winners advance to the city final on Nov. 1.
On Friday in the 6A Division II Bowl, fifth-ranked Evan Hardy takes on sixth-ranked Bethlehem (4 p.m.).
Also on Friday, the 5A final takes place between No. 1 seed Bishop Mahoney and No. 2-ranked Aden Bowman (6:30 p.m.).
On Thursday, prior to the 6A semi-finals, the 5A Rusholme Road Bowl is set between No. 6-seeded Bedford Road and No. 8-ranked E.D. Feehan (3 p.m.)
All games are played at SMF Field.
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.