The LV Rogers senior girls’ soccer team is going to have a very busy week.
Not only are they getting ready to defend their BC AA provincial championship, but they are going to be doing it on home turf.
This week, LVR is hosting the B.C. High School AA Girls Soccer Provincial Championships at the Lakeside fields. There will be 16 teams and close to 300 players participating in the annual tournament. Teams are from all over the province.
“There will be some of the top female soccer teams in the province in Nelson this week,” said head coach and tournament chair Chuck Bennett. “There will be some great games and some great soccer played.”
Action starts on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. at Lakeside pitch. Each team plays two games Thursday and two games Friday and then one playoff game on Saturday. The championship final is at 2 p.m. at Lakeside field on Saturday. The competition opens with a banquet at the Prestige Hotel on the Wednesday night.
LVR went undefeated last year, including a dramatic shoot-out win in the final, to bring home the championship, and Bennett is expecting this year’s team to be in thick of the competition again.
“Our expectations are to win our group,” he said.
The format of the 16-team tournament is four pools of four teams. Only the teams that finish first in their pool get to move on to the medal round.
“It is a very difficult tournament because you can’t have any missteps along the way. Ultimately, you can’t lose a game,” said Bennett.
Bennett said the girls have had a good season, but with the loss of Naomi Perkins they have struggled to score goals.
“It is a different team this year,” added Bennett. “But we are a very good team and definitely would be considered a contender going into this competition.
LVR opens the tournament against a tough St. Michael’s University School on Thursday morning at 8 a.m. St Mikes has won the bronze medal the past two championships and beat Nelson in Victoria earlier this year. St Mikes scored on a penalty with only minutes remaining to break a nil-nil draw. LVR plays Vanderhoof at 2 p.m. and then takes on DW Poppy, who won the Fraser Valley championship, at 10 a.m. on Friday morning. The remaining two games will be decided by the results of the first three games.
“We are really hoping people will get out and support the girls,” said Bennett. “The girls are very excited about playing on their home turf and in front of their home fans.”
