The 2015 Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association (SHSAA) soccer season has been a season of ups and downs for the YRHS Lady Raider soccer team.
For the most part they’ve struggled offensively, and although their defence has been strong, it just hasn’t been enough to see them through to victories.
However everything came together when they needed it to on Friday at Century Field when the YRHS Lady Raiders, led by first year head coach Michael Chapman, found the back of the net seven times while keeping the Estevan attack at bay for the entire game in a 7-0 shutout victory.
Roma Zulyniak scored three of the goals for the Raiders while Deanna Kitzul also found the back of the net twice in a game that had a berth in the Provincial tournament on the line. “I was pretty happy with their effort as a team and I am pretty proud of them for getting that 7-0 win to open the weekend and qualifying for Provincials,” offered Chapman. “As I understand it the Regional girls haven’t been to Provincials for a while, so it’s definitely an accomplishment for them.”
For the Regional girls, their 7-0 win is just an addition to the domination they’ve had over Estevan this season, beating the Elecs 6-0 at the Sacred Heart tournament and 5-0 at Moose Jaw’s SoccerFest earlier this year. However Chapman felt that his girls didn’t go into Friday’s game expecting to win. “I think they were confident going into the game against Estevan, but I worked really hard to try and balance that confidence,” mentioned Chapman. “When you’ve beaten a team several times and there is something important like going to Provincials on the line, the only thing that team wants to do is comeback hard and give you a good showing.”
The Lady Raiders then took on the Swift Current Colts in the Regional final on Saturday, and although they never gave up, the Colts proved to be too much on the day, besting the Regional girls 11-0. “Obviously we knew we were coming into a tough opponent against Swift Current. They’re going to be the Provincial hosts this year so we knew that they are a cut above the rest provincially and that they’re one of the top teams we’ll encounter even at the Provincial tournament,” said the Lady Raider head coach, adding that losing 11-0 shows that they’re not quite at the level to challenge for the title yet, but that the experience they’ll gain at the Provincial tournament will be invaluable for future years. “I’m hoping that we’ll use these games to develop and gain experience for future years because I think as the program develops the girls can expect to get back to the Provincials repeatedly.”
The Lady Raiders open the 2015 SHSAA 3A Girls’ Provincial tournament up against the top-ranked Saskatoon Centennial team on Friday morning.
