The Bert Church Chargers girls’ soccer team bounced back from a tournament-opening defeat Oct. 17, to win gold at the South Central Zones Tier 2 tournament in Cochrane.
Opening the one-day tournament against the hosts, the Chargers lost 3-2 to the Bow Valley Bobcats.
“They jumped up on us 2-0, before the first half was even halfway done,” said assistant coach Darcy Welsh. “We came back and tied it in the second half, but then [Bow Valley] got one in the remaining minutes, and we couldn’t come back from that.”
Despite the disappointment of losing its first game by such a fine margin, Welsh said the defeat was a learning experience, propelling the team to strong performances in the remainder of the tourney.
“That loss opened our eyes to how we needed to play and step up,” he said.
“When [our players] play their positions and play the system we’ve been trying to show them, they have a lot of success. When they’re working together as a team, they have good ball movement, good ball control and good positional play.”
Bert Church handily ousted the George McDougall Mustangs and the Brooks Composite Buffaloes in the next two games, recording double-digit goals while keeping two clean sheets.
Welsh said the Chargers spread the scoring around against George McDougall and Brooks, with multiple players putting the ball in the back of the net.
“Everyone got their foot on the ball,” he said. “In the second two games, we rotated everyone so they all had a chance to play. We had some players come out surprisingly well.
“It’s been working for us – as long as we stick to our systems, we can have success with it.”
The two victories resulted in a rematch with the Bobcats for the gold-medal. This time, Bert Church downed the hosts 1-0, with Hannah Jensen scoring the Chargers’ goal.
Along with the successful showing at zones, the team is also competing in the Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) playoffs, after finishing the regular season in third place with a 3-1-2 record.
The Chargers started its playoff run Oct. 15 with a dominant 11-2 win over the Chestermere Lakers in the quarterfinals.
“We won that game quite handily, which was a good way for us to end the divisionals off [before the zones tournament],” Welsh said. “We had to shift our focus during the zones tournament, but if we can continue to play like we did in the zones tournament, we should do very well.”
Bert Church’s semi-final took place Oct. 22 (after press time) against the second-place Cochrane Cobras. The winner of that match will contend for the RVSA championship Oct. 24, at Monklands Park, against either the Springbank Phoenix or the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers. Kick-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The bronze-medal match will also be held 4:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at Monklands.
Kodiaks finish top-four
In the Calgary Senior High School Athletics Association, the St. Martin de Porres girls’ soccer team ended its season Oct. 18, bowing out in the semi-finals of the Division 4 playoffs.
The teams ousted the Robert Thirsk Comets 3-0 in the quarterfinals Oct. 16, but fell 2-0 to the John G. Diefenbaker Chiefs in the final-four match-up two days later.
The Kodiaks had ended the regular season with a 3-1-2 record, which put the team in third place of the 11-team standings.
