LFA Field Hockey Fourth in BC

The Provincial Championships saw LFA ranked fourth, meaning their pool drew some strong teams. Their first game featured a re-match from the Provincial Qualification Tournament against fellow Catholic school St. Thomas Aquinas. Their only game on field turf this tournament, STA were full value. Still, the Angels ability to move the ball around was on display. Eleanor (Elmo) Morrison ’19 and Nicole Shi ’18 were dominant in the centre of the pitch, able to bring the ball out of the backfield and get it on to teammates’ sticks. Still, with load of pressure on STA and plenty of short corners to show for the work, the STA goalie held them in the game. Eventually, Allison Kuzyk ’20 was able to convert an opportunity for a goal. The pressure off, LFA surged. Athena Pukovsky ’19 in the LFA net was only called upon to make one save in the second half as Allison doubled the lead. Playing right to the end, a tired STA defence started to succumb to our forwards relentless speed. With only seconds remaining, Gabby Lee ’19 broke free on a clean break away on a simply lovely pass from Mikayla Stelling ’21. Gabby ran at the goalie and calmly played the shot by her, sliding it just inside the post for a 3-0 score-line.

In pool play, goal difference is always important as it can mean the difference between drawing more difficult quarter final opposition or even missing the championship round. In our second game against South Kamloops, we were up against a team we’d played at the UBC tournament at the very beginning of the season. They’d improved immensely, which was clear to see from the outset. Still, our ability to control the game as a team was too much for them. Our wide side halves really started to get the ball as we were able to swing the play more easily on the field hockey-specific, water-based turf. Ava MacFarlane ’20 and Naomi Shi ’18 were dominant on the right side, getting the ball up to our forwards quickly and decisively. Gabby made a series of great baseline runs, finding Mira Teoli ’18 on a couple of them. One of Mira’s one-timed shots was miraculously saved by the Kamloops defender at one point. Able to switch in fast, fresh wingers, we tore through the Kamloops defenders. Lorraine Fabre ’18 and Sophie Morris ’19 saw loads of passes delivered to their sticks and did excellent work to convert to short corners and goal scoring chances. Allison wreaked havoc in the D and would end up with a hat trick. Elmo converted a perfect penalty flick after the Kamloops keeper covered the ball. Naomi finished off a lovely play to get a goal and Mira would not be denied, eventually getting a goal soon after the Kamloops defender made a save on her earlier attempt. 6-0 to the good and our place in the championship side of the draw confirmed, we would need a win or a tie against St. Michael’s University School (SMUS) to claim top seed in our pool.

On Day 2 of the tournament, we came out against SMUS a little flat. Pressure was on us and Athena was forced into several good saves early in the game. Our defenders were suddenly in regular a action for sustained periods of hockey for the first time in the tournament. They responded wonderfully. Frances Scheepers ’18 used her incredible hand-eye and impeccable timing to consistently disrupt SMUS attackers. Ashley Klomp ’18 made our right side so unpleasant to attack, SMUS all but abandoned going the weak side. Mimi Wallace ’20 was brilliant throughout the first half on the left back, often facing the brunt of SMUS skilled players efforts. Once the nerves left the game and we started to regain our basics, Elmo and Nicole began to take over the game. Gracie Korac ’20 played her best game of the tournament, generating lots of good counter attack up the left side. Likewise, on the far side Ava was able to control the hockey and work it up to the forwards. Allison regularly found chances to attack the D, but was turned away by good saves and clever defending until late in the first half. On another lovely baseline run from Gabby, the ball made it to Allison in front of the net. Having fallen down, it looked like she touched the ball with her hand before swatting the ball into the net whilst on her stomach. No goal. But it injected all sorts of life into the team. We came out in the second half on fire. For about 15 minutes, we absolutely tore through the SMUS team. The passing was elite. Give and goes all over the pitch, we simply couldn’t be contained. At one point, Ava, Nicole, Allison and Gabby threaded a series of passes together that were a wonder to behold: it ended with Gabby hammering it into the net. Short corners came in droves. Eleanor scored again to put us up by 2. Mira scored and we were running rampant. Allison slotted what seemed a sure goal, only to have it called back despite there being an advantage. We hit post and watched the ball dribble along the goal line without going in. SMUS had no reply for the longest time. Then, completely against the run of play, a long ball and lucky foot gave them a break away that Athena couldn’t quite get her hands on. With the score line 3-1, the pace settled and the game seemed to play itself out mainly in the midfield. It was a brilliant win that would line us up against the Kootenay’s JL Crowe.

The team from Trail, BC was ranked fifth to our fourth, so it was always going to be an excellent game. They’re athletic and disciplined and play a fast brand of field hockey. We had seen them early in the year at the UBC Tournament. Though we beat them in the UBC final, they were exhausted from a scheduling hiccup. When we played them fresh, it was a 3-3 draw. As it turns out, this game would be one of the highlights of our season. With a chance to play in the Semi Finals, we played our best hockey of the year. Elmo would not be contained. Allison was outrageous in her attack. Nicole was sublime, delivering passes to her teammates all over the pitch. Frances was dominant at the back. Francesca (Franky) Yep ’20 delivered a clinic in defending, highlighted by the most incredible stick save on a blistering, high shot late in the game. Indeed, the ability of our defensive core of Frances, Ashley, Franky, Mimi and Jessica Chong ’18 to consistently get the ball to our midfield with creative passing and good vision was instrumental throughout. Crowe was excellent on the counter attack, but every time we repossessed the ball, we methodically picked our way forward. Once our forwards had possession, Crowe was often scrambling to regain position. Our commitment to playing our system stretched Crowe too much and we began to take over the game. Gabby played her best game of the year, running rampant along the baseline and feeding ball after ball to the front of the net. Allison was the recipient of several, as she collected her second hat trick in as many days. Elmo had a lovely goal, though the highlights for her were several stunning runs into the Crowe D that set up Allison and gave us short corners. In the end, JL Crowe brought the best out of our group and we simply played our best hockey of the Provincials with a convincing 4-1 win. With the win, we were off to face our old rival Crofton in the Semi Final.

Friday morning and the last day of the tournament, we came up against a Crofton side that had bested us 2-1 to qualify for Provincials. The first half was more of us on our heels. Frances, Ashely, Franky and Athena were our best players through the first thirty minutes. At one point, Crofton surged into our D and let go a blistering shot that eluded Athena. If Franky’s goal line save against Crowe was stunning, he ability to snap the shot out of the air and clear it away in this instance was shocking. There was even a stunned silence before fans from both teams erupted with applause. Grinding out a 0-0 first half, the Angels came alive in the second half. It was our turn to surge forward. Gabby got a partial break but couldn’t get the angle to slip it by the keeper. Allison had several shot attempts, but couldn’t get all of the ball. Mira found herself alone in front of the Crofton keeper with the ball but the angle was again too tight to fire it home. We hit the post. We shot wide. Meanwhile, Athena was called into several saves at the other end. It was end to end. Nicole and Elmo ran miles and miles in the midfield. Mikayla, Naomi and Ava gave everything they had on the wide halves, absolutely relentless in their effort. We certainly missed Alex Legge ’19, a stalwart wide half who sat the tournament with a knee injury. In the waning minutes, Crofton got a short corner. Despite a good first run from Gabby, the ball went right and got swiped at net: a shot that Frances certainly would have had if it had not been deflected just in front of her. With but 90 seconds left, we were suddenly down by a goal. Everyone poured forward for the final minute. Allison fouled all the way forward but couldn’t get a call for a short corner. There just wasn’t the time to mount a comeback and our shot at a championship evaporated.

Deflated, the girls matched up against York House in the bronze final. There was some lovely individual efforts throughout, especially from Lorraine, Elmo and Mikayla who played with particular passion. But you could sense LFA was a spent force after Crofton loss. Goals we hadn’t let in all year off short corners went in. We got the chance to put Hanna McGee ’20 into net, as our back-up goalie hadn’t seen much action through the tournament. She made a couple of lovely saves, one on a high ball that she calmly batted away. Allison added to her goal scoring tally with a goal late in the first half to bring it back to 2-1, but York pulled away in the second half.

The losses on the final day didn’t seem to spoil the sense of accomplishment among the girls. This was an extraordinary team in many respects. On the field, they accomplished so much. All year long, but especially at Provincials, we heard from other coaches about how respectful our girls were and the quality of sportsmanship they displayed. They represented LFA wonderfully and the coaching staff, which included alumna Gabby Jayme ’12, long-time Senior A coaches Cedric Vaz, Gus Yep and Ben Fitch and teacher-sponsor Vy Tran, simply could not be more proud of this group. Special thanks to incredible parent volunteerism we saw this season too. From driving to running errands at tournaments to the amazing photography (credit to both George Morris and Cameron Wallace), they enabled a genuinely special experience. It all came together for a season that will be one of the very fond high school memories that these girls take with them for the rest of their lives.