Semi-finalists are now booked in for both Open Divisions of SDSSAA soccer on Friday as a full day of quarter-final action Tuesday at the James Jerome Sports Complex narrowed down the field substantially.

After netting just seven goals in registering four straight wins in regular season play, the St Benedict Bears boys exploded to the tune of a four goal performance in the first round of the playoffs, blanking the Horizon Aigles 4-0 to round out the final four.

Goals by Ibrahim Najem and London Croome got the Bears on the board early, with Connor Nicholson and Emmanuel Boamah adding second half insurance, not that keeper Nicholas Bodnar needed a whole lot of extra help in recording his first shutout of the season.

After netting a pair of goals to lead St Benedict past Lasalle 2-1 in their final pool game, Roman Mamonov turned playmaker this week, helping to set up a pair of strikes before head coach Alex Cimino substituted freely in the second half.

“We had to score more goals, which we did quite well,” noted Mamonov, a 15 year-old who moved to Canada from the Ukraine some three years ago and is splitting his competitive soccer this summer by suiting up with West Ottawa of the OPDL in addition to his time spent locally.

“And we wanted to control the game, which we also did quite well. When I feel that my team needs me to be, I like to be a playmaker – but when I get a chance, I try and score,” added the grade 10 student who seems to have adjusted quite nicely in tackling the game in a completely different continent.

“There is a difference between here and Ukraine,” Mamonov acknowledged. “There, it is more Europe (style) and here, it’s more North America – but it’s still soccer.”

After dropping the 2024 city final 3-1 to the St Charles College Cardinals, the Bears will get another shot at their crosstown rivals in the semis this year. “Every team is good but I particularly look forward to playing St Charles, because of last year,” said Mamonov.

“We will try and get them back.”

St Charles survived a 2-1 affair with the Confederation Chargers on goals from Braxton Ragogna and David Santos while the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes rode a two goal effort from Berkedei Adoum and another from Aurel Kamagate in tripling the Bishop Carter Gators 3-1.

The Lo-Ellen Park Knights opened the festivities on Tuesday looking awfully impressive in eliminating the Lasalle Lancers 5-1 as Luca Cucullo netted a hat trick, with Carter Bubalo and Jameson Fabbro also finding the back of the net once each.

On the girls Open Premier side of things, CND advanced by virtue of a forfeited win over the Confederation Chargers while St Charles blanked Bishop Carter 4-0 as Lois Appiah Hagan, Cassidee Johnson, Ava Massimiliano and Bryn Hobson provided the offense while Izabel Courville kept things clean at the opposite end of the pitch.

Junior boys quarter-finals are slated for Wednesday with Division II post-season play still a week away.