Powell River Surge under-14 girls’ rep soccer team attended the provincials in North Vancouver recently representing Vancouver Island. It was the first time Surge had been to the provincials and the team competed well to finish in hard-fought sixth place.
Having won the right to represent the island at the provincials almost three months ago, the coaches and players found the intervening lay-off and lack of quality game time frustrating. However, the girls fought hard and improved with each game they played.
Up first for Surge were the northern champions Prince George Kodiaks. Powell River remained close for the first half but lack of game time saw Surge fall 3-1 by the end. The next game saw them play against Coastal Cup finalists Langley FC whose superior fitness helped them eventually win 4-0. Surge then took on Columbia-Kootenay champions Nelson Selects and a great individual effort from Hannah Pedersen, combined with a strong defensive effort, saw Surge come away with a 1-0 victory. This put them in the fifth-sixth-place final against North Shore Riptide on the last day of competition. A closely fought battle saw North Shore win with a score of 2-1.
Top scorer in the provincials for Surge was Bailey Hollingsworth with two goals. Coaches Scott Fisher and Ian Boyd were very proud of their team’s effort. “We don’t have a huge pool of players to draw from, so when we go up against teams from areas with 10 times our population, and we can still compete, we have to be happy with our girls’ efforts,” said head coach Boyd. “We would like to thank the girls for their incredible commitment to the team. It has been a long, but amazing season and the girls should be very proud of how far they have come.”
