The Vanier Spirits finished their season on a winning note over the weekend.

The Spirits knocked off Yorkton Sacred Heart, 3-1, on Saturday to walk away with the bronze medal at the 2017 SHSAA 2A girls soccer provincial championship at Sunningdale Field.

“It’s always good in your grade 12 year to come away with a medal and especially on home turf, for the whole team, we were even more amped up to win at home with all our parents and friends watching,” said Vanier senior Olivia Moyse.

Moyse scored twice for the Spirits as they built up a 3-1 lead against the Saints in the first half and then kept the pressure on in the second half to secure the win.

Molly Morris had the other first half marker for Vanier in the win.

“We’re really happy about our results, the girls played a really strong first half,” said Vanier head coach Daniel Atkins.  “Mentally, we were in the right space to start the game and we had a lot of shots on net and getting three of those in the net was important for us to be able to keep playing our game throughout the game.”

Vanier's Jane Morris battles a pair of Yorkton defenders to keep control of the ball during Saturday's bronze medal game at Sunningdale Field. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The Spirits dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 game to Regina Luther in the semifinals on Friday afternoon.  It was a game where they were able to generate a ton of chances, but couldn’t break through for the goal.

Moyse said scoring early in the bronze medal game allowed them to relax a bit more.

“We put the semifinal loss behind us on Friday night and woke in the morning energized and ready to go,” said Moyse.

“We just couldn’t score (on Friday), we were bringing it to them, but it just wasn’t happening.  We brought it to them early (Saturday) so that we could get up and we just had to keep it going.”

Saturday marked the end of a special season for the Spirits, who continued to improve throughout the year and picked up some big wins along the way.

“Already the girls are talking about next year and how things are going to be bigger and better, so we’re looking forward to next year,” said Atkins.  “We put all our heart into this game and we’re ramping up for next year mentally already.”

Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney, who Vanier had lost to in the regional final last weekend, went on to capture the gold medal with a 3-0 win over Regina Luther in the provincial final on Saturday afternoon.

At the 1A boys provincials in Middle Lake, the Vanier Vikings lost both their games on Friday to end their run at a title.