In Derek Hoogerdijk’s 15th and final season as head coach, the Credo Christian Kodiaks broke through and captured the first Fraser Valley banner in the girls soccer program.
The Kodiaks — the top seed — got a penalty kick goal in extra time to defeat the Southridge Storm 2-1 in the senior girls 1A championship final on Thursday (May 19) afternoon at Credo Christian School.
“It is amazing. The girls have been working so, so hard over the last four or five years,” Hoogerdijk said.
“We have been getting better and better and the program has been getting better and better.”
“We have lost late in a game in the semis the last three of four years and it has just been tough.”
“We play in a tough division with not many berths to provincials,” he added.
The game was scoreless at the half, but the Kodiaks had the better scoring chances, including one shot that went off the crossbar.
early in the second half, Jaylene Stam broke down the wing and sent a cross into the box, which Hannah Allison got her foot on to open the scoring.
The Storm would tie the game with about 20 minutes to play but Credo Christian kept attacking and were rewarded.
“We earned a penalty out of a strong attack into their 18 and Jaylene put it away,” Hoogerdijk said.
Credo knew they had qualified for the provincial championships — the top three would advance — after defeating the fourth-seed Unity Christian Flames 3-0 in the semifinals two days earlier.
That game was also scoreless at the half.
“I was more nervous last game than I was this game,” Hoogerdijk admitted.
“Our goal is always ‘can we make the provincials?’”
This is also the first time in program history the Kodiaks have qualified in back-to-back seasons.
The provincial championships run June 2 to 4 in Prince George and Credo Christian will look to top their previous best finish which was a seventh-place showing way back in Hoogerdijk’s second season.
This year’s team is an impressive 20-2-2 and has only conceded a dozen goals. And the team boasts depth as evidenced by the fact twice in the first half of the Fraser Valley final, Hoogerdijk was able to substitute six players on at one time.
“I know the girls who come off the bench will continue (doing the same thing) and that says a lot about our team,” he said.
In the third-place game, the Langley Christian Lightning advanced to provincials with a convincing 6-1 victory.
Gary Ahuja
Credo Christian Kodiaks’ Jaylene Stam (left) scored once and set up another goal in her team’s 2-1 victory over the Southridge Storm on May 19. The win gave the Kodiaks the first Fraser Valley girls soccer banner in school history.
