Mental mistakes buried the Penticton Pinnacles under-21 women’s team during the Pacific Coast Soccer League playoffs.
Taking on the Mid Isle Highlanders in Reserve Division action, Pinnacles coach Ray Hintz watched as his team was down 4-0 after 20 minutes.
“What happened is basically on the first five minutes, we got countered on our counter attack, a two-on-one and then they scored,” said Hintz, whose team lost 4-2. “We came back down and made a shot and the goalie made a diving save on the goal line.”
An inability to clear the ball led to more goals.
After watching his team become unsettled, Hintz made some personnel moves and changed their system, which helped. The hole they dug themselves in was just too deep.
“Once you’re down by four against a good team like Mid Isle, its tough,” he said. “Even though we had our chances, we just couldn’t finish. The effort from the girls was there. I wasn’t complaining about the effort, it was just the mental part.”
Alana Parker, the Pinnacles captain and Hintz’s choice as MVP, said the team lacked intensity to start. After giving up the four quick goals, she felt they played better.
“It was heartbreaking,” she said. “We came together after the fourth goal, played hard and pushed it. Missed a few chances. It was too little too late.”
Adding to the disappointment was that Kelowna FC defeated West Van FC, the regular season champions, 2-1 to advance to the final. Hintz said it would have been nice to have an Okanagan final. Parker was disappointed because they played well against Kelowna during the regular season.
“We could have been the team to win it and really broke down at the worst time,” said Parker, who was emotional following the loss.
After taking a year off, Parker said getting back in the playoffs was a good start. She sees continued growth and hopefully win next year.
