The Bow Valley Bobcats fell to the The W.H. Croxford Cavaliers boys soccer team 6-1 at Monklands Field in Airdrie Tuesday night.
The win puts the Cavaliers into the second round of the Rocky View Schools Sports Association (RVSSA) playoffs against the first-place Springbank Phoenix. The Cavaliers, who finished the 2024 regular season in a three-way tie for fourth place with a 2-4 record, will travel to Springbank on Thursday to take on the Phoenix.
Tuesday night’s game was a rematch of the final regular season game for the Cavaliers. On May 22, the Bobcats shutout Croxford 3-0, setting the field for their playoff matchup.
What a difference a week can make. After failing to register a single goal against the Bobcats just a week prior, the Cavaliers came out strong against their Cochrane rival, netting four goals in the game’s first half before things cooled down in the back half.
In the dying minutes of the match, the Bobcats scored a close-range goal to make the final tally more respectable. This was just the second time all season that the Cavaliers scored six goals. The first came back in their third game of the regular season against crosstown rival George McDougall when the Cavaliers dominated the Mustangs 6-2.
However, the Cavaliers next game is the farthest thing from an easy playoff path. The Springbank Phoenix, with their 5-1 record and a league-best 23-8 goal differential, ended the year on a five game winning streak and claimed the spot due to a tie-breaker over Cochrane High and Bert Church.
But parity seemed to be the theme of the year for the 2024 soccer season. In the seven-team league, six schools finished with two different records. Technically, Springbank, Bert Church, and Cochrane finished in a three-way tie for first place, while Croxford, Bow Valley, and George McDougall ended the year in a three-way tie as well.
The three 5-1 teams were in a class of their own. Each team’s only loss came to one of the other 5-1 teams, and the goal differential among Springbank, Bert Church, and Cochrane ranged from 15 to 7.
Croxford, Bow Valley, and George McDougall on the other hand, beat each other up all season, while also collecting losses handed to them from the top three teams.. Chestermere, the lone team to miss out on the playoffs, finished winless in 2024.
On Tuesday night, while Croxford was putting on a clinic against Bow Valley, Cochrane High pulled out a close 2-1 win over George McDougall, setting up the second-round matchups. On Thursday, the Bert Church Chargers will face the Cochrane Cobras at Monklands Field in Airdrie, while the Phoenix host the Cavaliers in Springbank.
The winners of both games will play for the league championship on June 4.
