The Peter Skene Ogden (PSO) girls’ soccer program hosted a six-team indoor soccer tournament on Friday. The event featured a pair of PSO teams, two teams from Lake City Secondary in Williams Lake as well as entrants from Hope Secondary and Desert Sands Community School in Ashcroft.
“The indoor soccer is always a nice change, the walls are in play so there are fewer whistles and a fast pace to the game with short shifts much like hockey, there’s usually a lot of scoring,” said Eagles coach Sean Glanville. “The indoor season is brief but it’s a nice lead-up to help build some momentum for the outdoor season.”
Both PSO teams managed to make the tournament semifinals but ended up losing to the Lake City Secondary squads who finished first and second.
“The girls played really well but the Williams Lake squads were too strong. Our teams featured several Grade 8 and 9 [students] who performed admirably considering they were up against mostly Grade 11-12 players,” said Glanville.
After dropping their opening game to LCSS 2, PSO 1 picked up a 4-2 victory over Hope to advance to the semis. Sydni Poggenpohl picked up a pair of goals with Olivia Poggenpohl and Allison Carr adding singles.
PSO Two fell 4-1 to LCSS One in their first game with Maddy Marten scoring the lone goal for PSO. In game two, PSO Two earned a hard-fought 1-1 tie with Ashcroft but advanced on goal differential. Ivy Sahara scored the lone goal for the Eagles and Rene Van Osch had a great game in net to preserve the tie. In their final game Abbey Foote and Daneya Tessaro scored in a 4-2 defeat to LCSS Two.
The tournament featured eight girls who played their first school soccer games with the Eagles including: Amy Baechmann, Emily Machado, Amy Jordaan, Emily Reid, Robin Frye, Kaye-Lyn Taylor, Lauren Ray and Hannah Ray.
“All the new players performed really well and it’s great to see new faces joining the team,” said Glanville.
Valeria Pineda, Ali Walker, and Marina Guimond were very solid on defense for PSO and Lauren Keller, Nicole Varney, Stephanie Hilstad, Lauren Popadnic and Lexi Mills had strong contributions for the Eagles.
The PSO girls’ soccer teams will resume in April for their outdoor season which kicks off with a 12-team tournament in Hope, April 13 and 14.