Bridgman Cup Tournament

21 October 2009elizabeth.wolfe

A report on the performance of the Senior Girls’ 1st XI Field Hockey at the Bridgman Cup tournament from their coach, Alanna Martin.

We were in a very tough pool. With such a young team, we knew that we would be up against some very tough competition. We were not disappointed. Playing good schools only makes you better and exposes weaknesses that need to be addressed. This tournament, for us, was to do just that. I knew our girls would rise to the challenge of their competitors, we would grow as a team, and I hoped that we would gel more as a team because of these experiences. First up was Kelowna, a team who is always top at the AAA Provincial Championships. Losing 6-1 was tough; however, we learned a lot and realized that we needed to work on staying with our checks on defence. I must say, it was a great moment when their coach yelled for their girl to burn by Dani R because she was ‘short and slow’; our girls held their tongues and Dani made that coach eat his words when she blew by their player. Our team definitely played with class.

Next up was West Van…two time defending AAA Provincial Champions. We got off to a great start with a goal by Denesha D. Unfortunately, our marking was not strong and we were down 4-1 at the half. Also, our goalkeeper got injured and needed to come off the field at half-time. Not having a backup keeper, Dani R volunteered to go into net. What a trooper! This was the first time she had ever put on goalie pads and she did great. That said, West Van was merciless and popped in as many goals as they could. It was a tough, tough day.

On Saturday, the girls rebound marvelously and played their final pool game against Glenlyon Norfolk School. Annelise H put two by the goal keeper for the win. The girls were improving with each game.

Finishing 3rd in our pool, we were in the consolation round. Our competition was Cowichan. The score was 4-0 for Cowichan. As coaches, Jenna and I were pleased with this result as we had an injured goalie, three starters had other commitments and couldn’t play so we pulled up some of our juniors for the game; plus, we only had one sub. Our kids played their hearts out.

This loss put us against Shawnigan Lake School on Sunday morning. Our girls ended the tournament with a great game and beat Shawnigan 4-0. Natalie C got two, and Crystal L and Annelise H each put in one.

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