Angels Face Two Top UK Teams

Our LFA Touring Team has faced off against two of South West England's top hockey schools yesterday and today, showing they have the ability to play hockey some of the best in their age group.
Our Monday friendly was against our host school, St. Lawrence College. The speed and physical nature of the game took our girls off guard. St. Lawrence was as good as any of the top high schools we play in BC, but we were fielding a touring side of mixed experience. A ton of work fell on our midfield. Eleanor Morrison '19 and Alex Legge '19 were simply brilliant through the first 15 minutes as we largely held the St. Lawrence College team in check. 

Disciplined passing and some good vision even saw us release our forwards on more than one occasion. Gabby Lee '19 was always a threat to break through at centre mid while the crazy speed and splendid game sense of Ceili McCabe '19 got our best chance of the game. Mira Teoli '18 got moved back into the wide-side midfield and played inspired hockey. The best we’ve ever seen her play.

Unfortunately, Alex went down with a small injury that would keep her out of this game and next about midway through the first half. Grace Doyle ’17, who is a rock at centre back, had to move into the midfield to keep our structure. Frances Scheepers ’18 was suddenly thrown into centre back against one of the top teams we’ve ever played against and was simply sensational. Keely McConnel ’17, Ashley Klomp ‘18 and Sarah Foster ’17 were forced into extra work on the back line and played so well. Indeed, they seemed to get stronger as the game went on, adapting to the frenetic pace and the wonderful individual skill of our opponents.
With the central midfield change, the pressure was on to find a difference-maker. Every girl contributed. Favourite moments for us coaches included Natalie Ng ’19 stripping the ball cleanly off a St. Lawrence defender and charging into the D to get a shot near net; Ashley Klomp ’18 pin-pointing a pass up the sideline to a streaking Amanda Yuen ’18 who was nearly free and clear on a breakaway; and, Olivia Graham ’17 switching to centre forward from wing and running absolutely everything down: earning herself several wonderful opportunities near their D.

Despite a truly fantastic game from Claudia Aparicio ’17 that included a half dozen miraculous saves, we were unable to contain their skill and speed. Losing 4-0 was no slouch and the girls will have taken a lot away from the experience.

Next up, today, was against Cranbrook School. Every bit as fast and skillful as St. Lawrence, today’s game was much less physical. Cranbrook, at times, put on a clinic of passing and distribution. Our girls countered with a work ethic that will surely get rewarded soon. Olivia was again a work-horse at centre forward, tenacious in everything she does. Ceili also nearly found the ball on a breakaway and it is only a matter of time before she finds the back of the net. Meanwhile, our midfield of Grace and Elmo were sublime. They really are a joy to watch and are so good at taking coaching instruction. For their efforts, they had a number of great opportunities and are working fabulously well with both Mira on the right and Rebecca Fraser ’19 on the left. Gabby Ayalew ’18, who scored in our first game of the tour, is finding a niche on the wing too. Her defensive efforts in containment were invaluable to keeping us nearly level in play for much of the game.  

In the end, we really couldn’t afford mistakes. Cranbrook were just too good. A missed assignment on a short was a goal against. Claudia was pressed into several lovely saves. Then a marking assignment that would have been “good enough” in 99% of our games in Vancouver wasn’t good enough on this day. Only down 2-0 at half, the girls dug in to keep it there through the second half.

Then, much to the delight of our girls, we played an extra half where we simply mixed up the teams and let them scrimmage. It’s one thing to play against great players and something different to have them play alongside you. The 20-odd minutes of scrimmage will be a memory our girls take with them for years to come.
Well done Angels!
Back

School Information

4195 Alexandra Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 4C6
Tel: 604-738-9016
Support LFA | Contact Us | School Calendar

Social

Search