The Lake City Falcons senior girls soccer team quickly found its rhythm last week at a tournament in Chilliwack.
Head coach Caitlin Sabatino said with just one practice under the team’s belt prior to the tournament, she was pleased with the team’s two-win, one-loss and one-tie record.
“I felt the girls played really, really well,” Sabatino said. “They played aggressively and cohesively against the larger squads.”
The Falcons opened their tournament Thursday, April 4 with a 1-1 tie against Campbell River. Amanda Lane found the net for the Falcons’ lone goal of the match.
They then faced Sardis of Chilliwack in their second game, where the Falcons fell 4-0.
Sabatino said hot weather and minimal subs began to take a toll and were both contributing factors in the loss, which saw Sardis awarded two penalty kicks.
The loss put the Falcons in the bottom half of the tournament draw heading into playoffs.
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Friday, the Falcons were quick to rebound from the defeat, taking on northern zone rivals Correlieu of Quesnel in their next game where after a nil-nil tie through regulation and an uneventful overtime frame, the Falcons picked up the win on penalty kicks. Penalty kicks were scored by Ashley Benedet, Brityn Hinsche and Tiana Brenner.
In the Falcon’s final game, Lake City took on host Chilliwack.
After two scoreless halves the game was still tied 0-0, putting the Falcons into another sudden death overtime situation — their second of the day.
Ten minutes of overtime still yielded no goals and the game went to penalty kicks, once again.
It took six shooters, but Bronwyn Pocock found the net once and Brenner scored twice to help the Falcons claim victory.
“The girls played the entire last game short one player, sometimes two, and were excellent,” Sabatino said.
Sabatino also complimented the play of Brityn in goal throughout the tournament.
“Being a northern team and having the snow come off the fields later is always difficult to go to these tournaments early in the season when some of the other teams have already been practicing for much longer,” she said. “But we played a great tournament.”
The Falcons are now hoping to host some home games versus Peter Skene Ogden of 100 Mile House and Correlieu, before they play host to the North Central Zone Championships in May on Mother’s Day weekend.
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