The Peter Skene Ogden Eagles Senior girls’ soccer team had a successful exhibition trip to Victoria, May 5-7.
The Eagles began the trip with a May 5 game versus Hope Secondary. The Eagles’ dropped a 1-0 decision to Hope a month earlier, but got revenge in a big way with a convincing 5-0 victory. It was the Eagles’ second consecutive 5-0 victory as they defeated Lake City Secondary by the same score two weeks earlier.
“There’s been a very noticeable improvement with the girls this season,” says coach Sean Glanville.
“Last year, we didn’t win a single game versus senior competition and now we are winning some of our games quite handily.”
Rylea Pigeon led the offence with a pair of goals while Kaily Lund, Charlie McQueen and Karlie Easton all added singles. McQueen and Easton also each combined for the shutout in goal playing a half each.
On Friday, the girls crossed the water to Victoria where they played Parkland Secondary from Sidney. This was the girl’s first exposure to top-quality competition this season and they handled themselves very well, Glanville explains.
“The calibre of soccer against some of the big schools on the Island is so high, many play in academies and have year round top quality competition.
“I told the girls prior to the game there would be goals scored on us but to keep our head up and battle hard right to the final whistle. In the long run, you get much more out of losing to a better team than beating up on a weaker team.”
After the first half, Parkland was ahead 4-0. The Eagles made a change at half time switching goalkeepers and inserting Chantelle Walters between the pipes and putting Easton as central defender. The change paid major dividends as Walters made some fabulous stops in goal and Easton’s speed neutralized Parkland’s speedy forwards and the second half was scoreless.
“It was a huge moral victory for us to keep a quality team like that scoreless for the second half. Chantelle played phenomenal and our entire defense was fantastic.
“Our backline of Easton, Anja Dunk, Rachel Cross and Ali Walker all played incredible all weekend and their speed and aggression is what kept us somewhat competitive.
The girls’ played their final game Saturday against Glenlyon Norfolk Secondary (GNS) of Victoria. GNS is a provincially ranked school that runs an elite soccer academy and it would be a huge test for the young Eagles team that doesn’t boast a single graduating student this year.
Once again the Eagles proved themselves worthy opponents despite being on the losing end of another 4-0 score line, coach says, adding Walters was terrific in goal and the defense was at their stingy best.
“This was easily the best game the girls have played all season and they continually improved with each game. It was critical for us to get these games in heading into zones next weekend.”
The next action of the season for the Eagles is this Sunday and Monday (May 15-16) as they host the North Central Zone Championships at the 100 Mile Soccer Fields.
The Eagles kick off the tournament Sunday against Duchess Park of Prince George at noon and play again at 3 p.m. against another Prince George side, College Heights.
The winner of the five-team tournament advances the provincial championships.
