Field Hockey Angels Win Provincial Bronze

LFA’s march to provincial bronze is really the culmination of an extraordinarily busy season of games and tournaments. They swept victories in the season opening Oliver tournament, hosted by SOSS. They pulled off an improbable silver with a depleted line-up at a AAA tournament at Tamanawis. The team went on a historic run at Bridgman, earning silver in the most difficult of high school field hockey tournaments. Finishing first in our Vancouver league, they qualified for the Sea to Sky Zone Championships, where they earned a deserved bronze medal. All through it, they developed a wonderful style of team hockey: a foundation of working with one another on the field that made them, probably, better than the sum of their parts.

 

LFA 1 – 0 Shawnigan Lake : Watch Full Game
Seeded third in the province going into Provincials, LFA drew Shawnigan Lake and South Okanagan in their pool. Starting off the tournament against a very well organized Shawnigan Lake side, LFA had to lean into our style of play. The field turf (soccer turf) slows the play and the girls had to concentrate on their basics to keep the ball moving at pace. Claire was pivotal in the backfield, though the reliability of her wide options to AnnYee and Charlotte or Jess meant we were able to constantly push the play around the Shawnigan press.

That said, the opposition was full value and game was back and forth throughout. Kaelen, in net, was called upon on several occasions to make fine saves (as she always does). In the end, it was unsurprisingly, a full team effort that turned the tides in LFA’s favour. With a free hit on the left sideline, LFA had the wherewithal not to force the ball into traffic. Jess cooly played the ball back to Claire, who anchored our D all tournament. Even on the field turf and under the Shawnigan press, Claire two-touched it on to Bea. Bea had a gorgeous first touch under pressure into space and played it on to Eva who streaked to win a 50/50 ball, using a cute but of 3D to eliminate Shawnigan’s central midfielder. Eva looked off a perfect lead from Sienna that drew in the defenders and rifled a pass to Addie. Addie collected it and used the 2-on-1 available to her to play it baseline to Paula, who drove hard to the goalie. Her pass across the front to Sienna hit something—a defender foot maybe?—and careened into the net. In essence, it was 30 seconds of perfect team hockey that was the difference. The game played out back and forth, but no goals were to be had and LFA had a critical win to open the tournament.

LFA 5 – 0 South Okanagan : Watch Full Game

Despite the Oliver hometown of our second opponent, they were a familiar foe to us this year. SOSS hosts a wonderful September tournament on their home field that we’ve attended for the past couple of years. They gave us a fantastic game then and we ran into them again at the Tamanawis tournament in late September. Both times, we were able to find our way to victory, but nothing is certain when it’s all on the line at Provincials.

SOSS came out flying. Despite some truly determined work by our group, the South Okanagan commitment to their structure and press caused us all sorts of problems, even on the fast hockey turf. The first quarter ended 0-0 and it was nearly 10 minutes into the second quarter until we finally broke through. On a short corner, Eva injected the ball to Amy, through whom our corners run. Amy played the ball smartly right to AnnYee on the option. AnnYee didn’t get all of it, but as the defender attempted to play the bouncing ball, she missed, as did the goalie. It won’t be AnnYee’s prettiest goal, but it came at a critical moment to restore our confidence.

The second goal came off a stroke. After Amy ran down the ball carrier at her own 25, she made a lovely tackle and exploded down the wide side on the counter attack. Sophia put in the hard work to get wide and Amy found her quickly. Sophia rounded the corner and into the D. She had Megan streaking to the front of the net, but a clumsy, rough tackle resulted in a penalty stroke. Amy stepped up and sent a rocket into the left side meshing giving the goalie no chance.

With the lead, we were now buzzing. We had some wonderful wide-side minutes from Viki and Megan, as they spelled into the midfield. Paula had a couple of end-line chances, as did Goose—who is simply always in the right spot.

Our third was vintage LFA. Seizing on the benefits of our quick release passing, Claire took a quick free hit, which she threaded into the pocket for Amy, who used only the briefest of moments to two-touch the ball to Abby on the wide side. With her head up, pre-scanning her options, Abby slipped the ball in side to a cutting Sienna. Sienna picked it up on the strong-side spin and drove to the top of the D, where hit home a wonderful low hit inside the nearside post to the delight of her teammates and the crowd.

The third goal seemed to break the spirit of SOSS slightly. LFA poured on the attack. AnnYee took a little pass from Eva, and delivered a rocket of a pass to Amy that deflected off a defenders foot for a short corner. Similar to our first goal, Amy slipped the ball right to AnnYee, who pounded a beautiful low shot at net that demanded a deflection: Emma was only too happy to oblige with some lovely hand-eye. The goalie managed to get a toe on it, but Eva had come in from the injector spot to shovel home the opportunity and put us up by four.

Only moments later, Charlotte defended beautifully to create a turn over on the top of our D. Bea, as ever, jumped on the quick free hit, who played it to Eva in the pocket. Eva twisted and turned and got it to Amy, who exploded forward, releasing quickly to Abby and Sophia. Sophia again was knocked to the floor and again we were awarded the penalty stroke. With a wealth of elite shooters on our team, it was Eva who stepped up and flicked it inside the left boards for a 5-0 lead.

In a game where everyone delivered important minutes, the team pushed hard right to the end. Even in a late short corner against us, there was a dogged determination to our defending as Jess diffused the semblance of opportunity that SOSS generated fromt eh set piece. We wrapped up having booked our spot in the Quarter Finals with a great effort.

 

LFA 1 – 0 Glenlyon Norfolk : Watch Full Game

If one thing has become apparent through the course of the season, it is that there are no easy games at the AA level. There is a parity in this generation of hockey that hasn’t been the case for years. Any of the top 8 to 10 teams could win it all on any day. GNS runs their game through a couple of elite midfielders and were to be deeply respected.

From the outset, the pressure would be on our midfield to contain the biggest GNS threats. In possession, we knew our own game would give us chances to score as our ball movement is among the very best of the high school teams.

Our teams delivered on a clear, cold morning on the slow field turf. From the outset, GNS struggled to move the ball as our forwards relentlessly ran down their passes, and playing their positions to near perfection. Goose pressured time and time again on the wide side run, as did Mattea, Addie and Abby. Claire was a force in the back, while our wide side halves gave us options throughout. Kaelen was called into action more than we’d have hoped for, but (as always) was phenomenal and so ridiculously calm.

Late the in first quarter, we played some gorgeous hockey as game seemed to run through Emma on the right side. Despite 5 or 6 D entries, it felt like we couldn’t get the last touch for a short corner or shot on net. Midway through the second quarter, Michaela had a lovely pass out to Bea, who turned strong around the defender and played it into Sienna. Mattea jumped on the ball of the foot, but the corner was given. The ensuing short corner had a lovely slip from Amy to Sienna, who got off a hard shot that Emma deflected. Anny nearly had the rebound, but another corner was awarded. We went back to Sienna who let off a cannon of a flick. The GNS keeper stabbed at it with her right leg, sending the ball nearly straight up in the air and well above the crossbar. As it fell, both Abby and Claire reached for the rebound in the air. With sticks and goalies and defender, it isn’t clear who touched it last, but LFA was ahead.

GNS pushed hard to get back in the game and possession ebbed and flowed. Inspiration came from everywhere. Megan had the shift of her season, taking a high ball and bouncing back up, just in time to steal the ball and move it on, then get it back and get us a short corner.  And, for chunks of time, LFA held incredible possession. At one point, Abby, Michalea, Eva and Sienna dominated the left side in the third quarter for about five minutes. While the inevitable short corners came, good GNS defending and the unfortunate pitch seemed to conspire against the short corner opportunities. Our endline entries to D created all sorts of havoc for GNS throughout as LFA went from attack to attack.

As the game wore on and the urgency mounted, the tackles on us got more and more clumsy and our girls regularly found themselves on the ground after a tackle. LFA stayed resilient and while more clinical finish might have made this one feel safer, it was a deserved result from a well-played game. With the win, LFA drew Collingwood for another semi final show-down.

 

LFA 0 – 2 Collingwood : Watch Full Game

Back on the fast hockey turf, with two of BC’s top high school teams, this one was always going to be an exceptionally entertaining game. Despite having far fewer players that play in provincial and elite women’s programs (indeed some of our athletes don’t play field hockey outside of the 10 week high school season), LFA had recorded the upset against Collingwood in last year’s Provincial Championship semi finals and again this year in the Bridgman semi-finals.

Collingwood’s level of desperation to beat us had reached a whole new level. They came out and took away all of our time and space. For the first 8 minutes, we were just hanging on by our fingernails. Then, as we adapted to the speed of the game, you could see glimpses of LFA hockey emerge. Claire anticipated to steal a ball, and moved it left to Eva, who two touched it inside to Sienna who made a great lead. Rather than forcing it up, Sienna played it to the right-side half, Emma, who caught a streaking Amy. Amy couldn’t get through the cynical tackle, but a quick free hit by Charlotte found Bea and we were back left-side an looking into the D.

Though on the back foot, LFA emerged from the first half 0-0. Quickly in the third quarter, Collingwood pounced on an error by LFA and managed to isolate a lone player in the D on the counter attack. Kaelen looked like she might have had it, but it was just out of reach. LFA pressed forward after the goal, which made the counter attack more worrisome. Still, it was time to reach for the equalizer. With our tempo up and need high, we forced mistakes of the Collingwood team. Late in the third, a short corner had a Sienna flick deflected. Amy picked up the rebound and shot high and hard. Another rebound fell to Emma. Another save, but the next short corner came to us. On the slip right, Claire got off a shot that was stopped by the defender.

In the end, Claire was a force in the central backfield. She distributed the ball and we asked as much as we could of the skillset we had out there. As coach prepared to pull the goalie with about 3 minutes left, there was a steal in the centre of the pitch that went right towards our D.  Whether it was just a lucky bounce or a bit of miscommunication, the ball ended up in the back of our net. Down 2-0, the team pushed. It found another gear. It dug deep. We moved the ball quickly. We were ferocious on the back check. But we just couldn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat.

 

LFA 1 – 0 York House : Watch Full Game

Bouncing back from the disappointment of the semi-final loss, LFA drew their cross-street rivals in the bronze final. We know them very well, playing them regularly and many of the girls play together through league and youth programs. Games are intense, but there’s a lovely sportsmanship to it all.

The game, from the outset, was back and forth. With Michaela (Grade 9) and Eva (Grade 8) playing big minutes in the middle of he pitch, we leaned on Bea and Amy to add experience against a York House central midfield that is as elite as any in the province. It is unsurprising that the lone goal of the game came down, then, to LFA’s attacking structure. Mattea received a lovely ball under pressure and got herself a free hit. Instantly, every athlete knew where to be. Michaela looked to Amy, who had a sublime one touch deflection to the endline, where Sofia was waiting in position. With no real options, Sofia turned and pushed the ball at net from an almost impossible angle. It’s to her credit she did so as the YHS goalie misjudged or misplayed it, allowing the ball into the net. It’s not clear from the video why YHS thought it should not have been allowed. Regardless, it invigorated York and they responded by pushing forward.

We found ourselves on our heals with a series of mis-traps and errant passes. A brutal tackle on Amy somehow went against us and it could have been our undoing as it looked like the momentum was shifting. But, in true LFA fashion, we refused to let it bother us. We responded with hard work and tenacity. Kaelen charged down a loose ball, sliding to get it away. Claire picked off pass after pass. Sienna was first on attack and first back on defending. Bea made 50/50 balls hers. And we started to find Jess and Emma out wide and the moment of real, dangerous pressure waned. In fact, Paula got a lovely pass from Abby that nearly created a short corner followed by Eva, Sienna and Jess winning difficult balls in the attacking zone. And, like that, we were back to back and forth hockey.

As the game wore on, the urgency of YHS trying to catch up gave them the edge as we defended. In doing so, we might have leaned on Kaelen a little more than we would have wanted, but you could sense that Kaelen had something special for their last game of high school hockey.

With the win, LFA grabbed bronze. For Grade 12’s Kaelen and Charlotte (silver, silver bronze) as well as Sienna, Addie, Jess (silver and bronze) and Paula (this year’s bronze), they will only ever know a podium finish at Provincials. It’s quite a remarkable achievement in high school sport. We will be in good shape next year with a wonderful collection of athletes who now have a year or two (or three) experience playing at the highest levels of high school hockey. This is good, as LFA is forced to move up to play bigger schools at AAA in the new policy where BC School Sport forces1 successful small schools to play up a division.