Hard work paid off for the Central Cyclones boys and girls soccer teams on the weekend. The two local teams picked up silver medals at their respective SHSAA Soccer Provincial Championships.

The Cyclones’ boys team lost 3-2 in a tight game against the Yorkton Sacred Heart Saints in the gold medal game on Saturday at the 2A Boys Provincials in North Battleford.

"It was close the whole game," said Central senior Fharis Ebet.

The Saints led 2-1 at halftime, but the Cyclones were able to tie the game up early in the second half. The score stayed level until late in regulation when Yorkton Sacred Heart scored to take the lead and eventually the gold medal.

Ebet said the Saints played them tough, but fair, "It was a super good game, we both played good, there was no dirty stuff, it was just super fun playing with a classy team," he said.

Central secured a 6-2 win over See See Wa Hum in the quarterfinal on Friday morning and they followed that up with a 3-2 victory over the Regina Riffel Royals in the semifinal.

Ebet said both teams played dirty and he’s proud of how his squad battled through, "They didn’t let anything affect them, our coach just told us to play on and we overcame it, got back into our groove and won," he said.

Central won the Moose Jaw City Championship for the third time this season and came within one goal of adding a provincial championship to finish off the year. 

Coming out of provincials, Ebet said the team had a great season, "The main reason we got to provincials was our coaching, our coaching was super good this year, the kids took it seriously, dedication, teamwork, that’s what took us to provincials," he said.

The Central Cyclones following their silver medal finish at the 2A Girls Provincials on Saturday in Regina. (Submitted photo)

The Cyclones girls team came away with a 6-0 loss to the Saskatoon Marion Graham Saints in the gold medal game on Saturday, ending a stellar run over the two days at 2A Girls Provincials in Regina.

"They played a different system than us and ended up outnumbering us in a part of the field, but we tried to compensate for that, we were still going after the ball and playing physical," said Central’s Kirstie Johnstone.

While Central fell short in the provincial final, their semifinal win might have been just as satisfying as they knocked off the Vanier Spirits, 1-0, to book their ticket into the title game.

"We came off a loss to Vanier in [the regional final] and to get that win against them, especially in provincials, our last game against them, was a really exciting thing for us, our coach was really proud of us," said Johnstone. "We fell short in [the final], but it was still a real exciting weekend for us, we came far."

The Cyclones knocked off Regina Luther College Lions, 2-1, in the quarterfinal on Friday and then they followed that up with a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Spirits in the semifinal.

"The goal we got was late in the first half and we had to keep fighting, we had to keep our momentum going and they wanted it really badly and so did we, but we just ended up holding on tighter than they did," said Johnstone.

The regular season had its ups and downs for the Cyclones, but they found their stride late in the season to get into the provincial title game.

"Our first game against Vanier, we lost 3-0 and to come back with our final game against them to win and go into the gold medal game at provincials was huge for us," said Johnstone.

The Spirits would go to lost 2-0 to Warman in the bronze medal game on Saturday.