The Rebels may have lost their final regular season soccer game on Saturday, but more important than the score was their continued improvement.
“Exactly,” an upbeat Oceanside U13 Girls coach Kevin Spicer said after the match, adding the hometown Rebels, “have had an adventurous season.”
The team is a mix of U12 and U13 and girls that needed to move up an age group to fill out the roster.
“This resulted in a big learning curve for all the kids playing for the first time on the regular sized field and against teams that field all U13 players.”
“The girls have had the challenge of competing against larger and faster girls, so they have been working hard in practice improving their individual ball handling skills and team play,” said Spicer, adding Saturday’s game against Nanaimo, “showed how they have improved in many areas …”
As for their 4-1 loss to the Nanaimo Strikers Saturday, “They tried really hard — they had the pressure the whole time,” said the longtime local coach, adding, “every player was playing their spot and doing their job. They play for each other (and) they never get down which is great.”
Earning extra props from her coach was little speedster Chaetonn Crawford.
“She had the most shots — she kept pushing it out wide and taking it hard to the net,” said Spicer.
Nanaimo took a 1-0 lead into the half, and Crawford fed the net early in the second off a corner kick to tie it 1-1.
GAME ON
Oceanside will host another Nanaimo team this Saturday at Arrowview Elementary School (10 a.m. start), then play their final friendly the following Saturday in Nanaimo.
