BP Sports - By Bernie Puchalski -
The Saint Michael Mustangs boys soccer team’s 2008 Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association championship still resonates with keeper Mario Trapasso.
“I think about it all the time; the memories of my friends and I winning the championship,” said the 28-year-old Sunday, following the team’s induction into the Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame.
Of all the memories, the championship victory over the host team from Sarnia stands out the most for Trapasso.
“At the end of the last game, everyone ran on to the field and then we received the awards and medals,” he said.
The Mustangs finished the championship game a man down after an ejection and they ended up winning the match on penalty kicks.
On the way to the school’s first-ever OFSAA gold medal, Saint Michael also won the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association final and its OFSAA quarter-final game on penalty kicks.
Trapasso admits being the last line of defence against penalty kicks in an OFSAA gold medal game was a challenging experience for a teenager.
“It was nerve-wracking, for sure, but you have to put the nerves aside and hope for the best.”
It was the team’s heart that made it so special, Trapasso said.
“And we all got along, pulled through for each other and played for each other,” he said.
Coach Pat Ricci felt the team’s makeup was a key to its success.
“The team was a mixture of talented and hard-working individuals with great leadership,” he said. “There was a lot of adversity and there were a number of weeks where it was five days a week.
“It was a massive commitment.”
The squad started with a pre-season training program in February and a silver medal in April at the Can-Am tournament in West Virginia.
“No one thought they were better than the other and it led to a pretty significant journey at OFSAA,” Ricci said.
Saint Michael went 6-1 in Zone 3 play before knocking off E.L. Crossley in the zone final. The Mustangs then advanced to OFSAA by defeating Hamilton Christian in the SOSSA final.
At no point did Ricci think his squad was a lock for a gold medal.
“With the amount of times we’ve gone to OFSAA, I never really think this is a gold medal team because it is too good to be true,” he said. “I know the statistics to do it are very low and you have to have a great bench and minimal injuries.”
Once his team reached the quarter-finals, Ricci starter to think the Mustangs had a shot.
“We were getting contributions from our depth players, we rallied around our penalty shots victory and our goalie was a key component in all game,” he said. “You could see that everyone was toeing the line and our A team players were contributing.”
Ricci most remembers going to penalty shots in the championship game.
“There were some guys who didn’t want to take shots because they were too nervous because they knew what was on the line.”
Members of the team, coached by Ricci, Sandro Seca, Dom Scozzafava and J.P. Verrucci, were Sergio Carles Martin, Lucas Folino, Dustin Maiolo, Justin Shugg, Tyler Tonet, Christopher Webb, James DeFilippis, Mitchel Gartner, Christopher Marchese, Kevin Smyth, Trapasso, Daniel Zappitelli, Joseph DeFilippis, Robert Kearns, Anthony Perry, Joseph Taddeo and Giulian Tropea.