Turns out there was more on the line than simply a berth in the SDSSAA Boys Open Premier soccer semi-final games as the top eight met last Tuesday in the opening round of the 2024 playoffs at the James Jerome Sports Complex.

With the St Charles College Cardinals drubbing the Collège Notre Dame Alouettes 8-0, the St Benedict Bears surviving a 2-0 scare from the Confederation Chargers, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights upsetting the Lasalle Lancers 1-0 and the Lockerby Vikings blanking the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères 3-0, the Final Four breaks down perfectly for NOSSA action next weekend.

The two "AA" schools (St Charles and Lo-Ellen) will travel to North Bay next Friday and Saturday, seeking a berth at OFSAA while the "A" tandem of St Benedict and Lockerby will do likewise in Sault Ste Marie on May 31st.

A goal by James Bertim on a lovely strike just before the end of the first half sent Lockerby on their way after the Panthères bounced a glorious chance off the post and Liam Binks and Jake Maybee added some second half insurance as Niko Tuttle recorded the clean sheet for the Vikes.

"The win is nice and it's especially nice because we have been struggling the past couple of years," noted Binks, a catalyst for much of what happens offensively for Lockerby. "It's our first playoff win in a while, so it feels really good - and with it being under the beautiful sun with the boys, we really can't complain."

The Vikings had squeaked out a 2-1 win earlier in the season when the two teams met but definitely used that outing as motivation in the post-season rematch.

"We scored in the last two minutes in that first game for the win," explained Binks. "We started out flat so we knew that today, we had to come out hard, come out gunning - and it worked."

In what seems to be the norm these days in the SDSSAA soccer ranks, the Vikings lineup features a mix of some year round soccer talent with a whole slew of multi-sport athletes, leading to a style of play that allows both to co-exist in a very short season.

"I think the word is simple soccer," said Binks. "Just don't over-complicate it, don't over-think it; just play. We have a lot of athletes, so we have to utilize our athletes and our speed and break down teams that way."

Lockerby will face St Benedict on Friday in one semi-final after Roman Mamonov and Donald Munuya scored in the Bears win over the Chargers.

Meanwhile, the Knights used a second half tally from Byron Nelson and a solid performance in net from Daniel Fruehwald to earn their date with the Cardinals in the remaining semi-final encounter on Friday.

Come next weekend (May 31st - June 1st), Sudbury will play host to both the NOSSA Girls AA/AAA Championship as well as the NOSSA Boys Junior A Playdown as well, with all games slated for the James Jerome fields.