The Penticton Secondary School Lakers girls soccer team has gotten off to a slow start, but their coach is starting to see things come together.
“It was a tough start because of the weather. We couldn’t get on the fields, in fact, we only had one outdoor practice before our first game,” said coach Alana Parker.
The Lakers lost a 7-0 game against the Kelowna Secondary School Owls in their first match of the season and showed signs of coming together in a 3-1 loss to Rutland Secondary School Voodoos on Wednesday on Lakers turf.
“It was a mix of working together, and we talked a little bit about kicking the ball up and out instead of holding on for that nice pass in our defensive end,” said Parker of their second game.
While the Voodoos scored all three of their goals in the first 30 minutes, the Lakers won the second half of the game. Maria Iannone scored the lone goal for the Lakers off a penalty kick.
“We have a lot of skill individually, but as the players get more time together they will learn to come together as a team, where each other like to have the ball and where to go. We will start to build a lot more success as we have more time together,” said Parker.
Parker, who grew up in Summerland and played district soccer in Penticton, is in her second year of coaching the Lakers squad. She had previously red-shirted with the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
“I have always wanted to try coaching high school soccer. I had a lot of great volunteer coaches over the years and I just really wanted to give back to the sport and to the girls,” she said.
