The Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School (PSO) senior girls’ soccer team dropped a nail-biter in the bronze medal game at the North Central AA Zone Championships in Prince George May 14-15.
PSO lost on penalty kicks to Nechako Valley Secondary School (NVSS) of Vanderhoof in a shootout that went all the way to sudden death and saw 14 different shooters step up to the spot.
“It was a great way to end our season with a close, exciting game. We had a 1-1 draw with NVSS at zones last year and again this time. The girls battled extremely hard and were unlucky not to win the game,” says coach Sean Glanville.
PSO trailed 1-0 at half time and if not for some terrific goalkeeping from Chantelle Walters the deficit could have been worse. In the second half, PSO came out flying and had countless glorious scoring opportunities but couldn’t find the net. They were finally rewarded with a penalty kick after a hand ball inside the box. Ashley Holyk scored on the ensuing kick to tie the game up 1-1 and send the game to penalties.
Scoring for PSO in the shootout were Karlie Easton, Rachel Cross, Abbey Foote, and Allison Carr.
In their first contest on Sunday, PSO was thumped 5-1 by D.P. Todd of Prince George in what was a lacklustre performance for the Eagles. They jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Abbey Foote but D.P. Todd pounded in three goals in the last few minutes of the first half on their way to the lopsided victory.
After a rough outing, the PSO girls would face up against perennial powerhouse and defending champions Duchess Park Secondary, also of Prince George. Duchess Park would go on to win the gold medal game 6-1 against the same D.P. Todd side that roughed up the Eagles, so PSO definitely faced an uphill battle.
The PSO girls defended remarkably. Despite not having much possession their defence played with heart and commitment and always had numbers behind the ball. They held Duchess Park to 1-0 most of the contest before a late tally made the final score 2-0.
“The first game the girls did not play well and part of that may have been waking up early and driving four hours and having to play immediately,” says Glanville. “The coaches challenged the girls to give Duchess Park all they had and make them work for everything and it was a great bounce back game despite the loss. To lose 2-0 to the top team in the North was very respectable for us being a small AA school.”
The team took plenty of positives from the weekend, despite never tasting victory. There were some phenomenal performances from the back line as defenders Rachel Cross, Ali Walker, Valeria Pineda and Marina Guimond all stood out.
“We have a hard time scoring goals but we seem to defend quite well and our back line and goalkeeper Chantelle Walters really kept us in a lot of games,” says Glanville. “The team got stronger as the tournament progressed which was nice to see.”
Kailey Lund, Karlie Easton, Maddy Martin, Jaime Harper and Allison Carr worked hard all weekend in midfield and Stephanie Hilstad, Nicole Varney and Ivy Sahara also made solid contributions to the Eagles.
For the three Grade 12’s on the roster, Walters, Easton and Lund, this was their final high school game and the trio has represented PSO very well throughout their time on the team. The future looks bright for next year as the Eagles return seven starters.
The Eagles picked up no cards on the weekend and were awarded the tournament’s Most Sportsmanlike Team.