In the end, the Charles Hays Rainmakers’ girls soccer team went down fighting.
At their 2014 zones championship, goaltender Harjyot Sidhu led the way once again in an effort to keep the team in their first game versus Smithers, but the Rainmakers fell in a 3-0 loss, and then again against Terrace in a 4-0 defeat.
Sidhu kept the squad in both games, as she knocked down shot after shot in a league the Rainmakers are still very new to.
In her first full season behind the bench as the team’s coach, Kyla Ragan made significant gains on the school’s soccer program and the team developed both on and off the field, hosting fundraisers and practices.
Penalties and lack of execution from their best scoring opportunities felled the team, but that’s something that will come with more years of development with the still-young program.
While soccer isn’t as big in Prince Rupert as basketball or hockey at times, Ragan’s crew is a product of team chemistry (the girls share every weekday together at school and on the pitch) and hard work.
The growing pains were evident at zones, and Sidhu will be receiving team MVP honours for her work in goal.
Ragan’s other coach’s choice for impactful players include Riley McNeice for her positive energy and motivation and Tanveen Randhawa, who always played consistently well in the opposing team’s zone and whose ball possession sparked the scoring opportunities the team needed to find its game.
“Pauline Pelz is most improved as she had never played soccer before and became a really strong defence,” said Ragan.
“Norma Appollos is able to identify weaknesses with the team and come up with constructive criticism for them,” said Ragan in a report from zones.
“The girls played really well and controlled most of the play but just couldn’t finish it [on the weekend].”
