The Penticton Under-14 field lacrosse team has their sights set on a championship after a monster season.
Coming off two wins against Kamloops and Kelowna last weekend Penticton has guaranteed themselves first place. The exact spot they want to be with playoffs and championship games just around the corner.
Penticton headed in to the second half against Kamloops last weekend with a 4-0 lead, but it slowly dissolved with Penticton hanging on for an 8-5 win.
“Kamloops took advantage of some breakdowns of ours in the second half, but we were still strong enough to hold them off,” said coach Dan Chetner.
The match up against Kelowna was much more one-sided. However, the game was tight for the first half, but was broken open in the second. leading to a 19-3 final.
“They put up not a bad fight in the first half. The first half was much closer than the second,” said Chetner. “Then Kelowna kind of packed it in.”
The playoff picture is now set for Penticton, which is now guaranteed to play Kelowna in the semi-final match. A team they feel confident in handling with the winner heading to the championship bout.
“That semi-final game, our expectation is that it’s just a tune-up for the final,” Chetner said.
The last two league games of the season take place on Oct. 25 with Penticton playing North Okanagan in the morning and Kamloops in the afternoon. The games will act more like a dress rehearsal for the playoffs, however, being irrelevant towards the standings with the playoff picture already set.
“It’s an opportunity to maybe try a couple of things in preparation for playoffs,” Chetner said.
Chetner expects to meet Kamloops in the final, however the team will be focusing inwards as far as the game plan goes.
“We are a better team than Kamloops and so if we just worry about ourselves, we should have the advantage in any game,” said Chetner. “That being said they do have some strong individual players, and we need to be able to, as a team, play some good team defence.”
Heading into the weekend with an 11-1 record, Chetner attributes the season-long success of his team to team play and less focus on individual feats.
“I would say our success is due to our players working hard to execute as a team. Which is more effective than individual play. That’s been our strength all year long, we’ve worked hard and improved our team play,” Chetner said.
Penticton will be heading to the playoff tournament to play two games on Nov. 2 with their eyes on the league championship.
