Sr. A Field Hockey Exit by Slimmest of Margins

While the team was devastated by the loss, there was a sense that they had given their very best effort. Indeed, they had. From the outset, it was all LFA but for Seycove's occasional (and capable) counter-attack. With Eleanor Morrison '19, Nicole Shi '18 and Grace Doyle '17 controlling the centre of the pitch, Seycove was under near constant pressure. 

The few times Seycove found their way into LFA territory, our defence was more than up to the task. Ashley Klomp '18, Jessica Chong '18 and both Sarah Foster '17 and Alex Legge '19 played tenaciously. Not only did they seldom allow a ball through, they were effective in generating play back towards the Seycove net. The very few times Seycove got into the LFA "d", goalie Claudia Aparicio '17 was completely dialed in and played so aggressively, there was nothing. A single hard shot in the second half was distressingly dangerous, especially as Claudia had seen so little play, but she confidently batted it away.

Searching passes regularly found our forwards. Allison Kuzyk '20 was particularly dangerous up front as the midfield fed her the ball with alarming (for Seycove) regularity. Some cynical tackles led to a series of short corners for LFA. Unfortunately, on the soccer field turf, we could never get our short corner to execute. It was just a step too slow. It would be our undoing, as we had a 10-1 advantage in short corner opportunities throughout the game, but could not produce a goal. The closest of the opportunities fell to Nicole as she glanced a hard, low flick off the post towards the end of the second half. 

The Seycove goalie was, however, called into making several excellent saves. None better than one on Allison, who drove left and unleashed a rocket of a tomahawk at the net. The next best opportunity came on a lovely drive by Alex, who played the ball from the left side into Gabby Lee '19 in the centre of the "d". Unmarked, she stepped into a shot that would find the back of the net... only to be called back by the umpire. The call against remains a perplexing mystery.

Because of the nature of the tournament, all games must be played to a decision. The slow turf was a huge disadvantage to all shooters on both teams as both goalies were clearly on their game. Unfortunately after Claudia made the initial save on the first Seycove shooter, the rebound went right back to the Seycove stick. The Seycove shooter stumbled and topped the ball, which caused it to unexpectedly sail high in the air, over Claudia's outstretched hand. A fair goal, it was wildly unfortunate. From there, the goalies closed the door--especially impressive was Claudia's stick check save to keep hopes alive on the final Seycove shooter. It was, however, not to be. 

The sadness for the girls was not just in missing out on the opportunity to play for a Provincial Championship. They had played extraordinarily well this season. Their record against fellow AA teams was exceptional. They'd lost only to Crofton and Collingwood, who are ranked one and two in the province respectively. Apart from this shoot-out loss, they didn't lose another game to an AA team in BC and could reasonably have expected to contend for a top-four finish--maybe even contend for top-two with a special effort in the right game. 

The girls will take some solace in knowing that most of them will have the opportunity to play together on tour in the spring. A wonderful group of athletes who represented our school so well throughout the year, this group will certainly remember the journey rather than the destination. Well done Angels!