There were a number of takeaways that the John Paul II Crusaders and North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings girls’ soccer teams are looking to build off of after this past weekend’s tournament at Crusaders Field.
For the host Crusaders, a disappointing 0-2-1 outcome means there is still more for the squad to work on ahead of the regional tournament in two weeks time.
“It wasn’t the best weekend,” Crusaders head coach Amanda Hansen said.
“Our passing and scoring can get a lot better along with our communication, especially as we try to move the ball up the field.”
After playing to a scoreless draw against the Vikings Friday afternoon, the Crusaders suffered a 5-1 loss to Se Se Wa Hum and a 4-0 setback against Meadow Lake.
“Two days before the tournament we had an exhibition game against Maidstone and beat them 4-1,” Hansen said. “We were a lot more comfortable in that win than we were over the weekend.
“The results at home weren’t what we wanted at all, but it gives us a good idea for what we have to do ahead of the regional tournament at Se Se Wa Hum on the 22nd.”
As for the Vikings, they hung in tough against Se Se Wa Hum before falling 4-0 and staged an impressive comeback in a 6-5 win over Meadow Lake.
“It was 1-0 for most of the game against Se Se Wa Hum but we just got unlucky in the last 10 minutes and they were able to pull ahead,” Vikings head coach Sebastian Prost said.
“We fell behind really early against Meadow Lake and the girls got into a bit of a mental funk. Then we started to make good free kicks and we had great ball movement into our opponents’ end to start our comeback. The girls really showed how strong a team we can be if we just play our game.”
Although the Crusaders are scheduled to take place in the regional tournament, which will see the top two teams advance to the provincials in Prince Albert on Oct. 28-29, the Vikings are still debating whether or not they will take part in the event.
“We have a number of multi-sport athletes on our team and their schedules tend to get a lot busier as we get further into the fall and early winter,” Prost said.
“Along with that, many of our players have work schedules as well that they have to plan around, so that makes things a bit tricky on our end.”
Prost hopes to make a final decision on if the Vikings will enter the 2A regional tournament over the next week.
