Stingers ready to contend again
Stelly’s, Oak Bay, Reynolds among triple-A favourites
Lower Island high school senior girls’ soccer teams began their quests this week toward city and ultimately Island championships.
Three second-half goals propelled the Stelly’s Stingers to a 4-0 victory over the Claremont Spartans at Lochside Park on Thursday.
In opening-day play on Tuesday, the Oak Bay Breakers blanked Claremont 3-0, while Stelly’s was kept to a 1-1 draw against Spectrum. Reynolds defeated Mount Douglas 4-1.
While those six teams form the triple-A portion of the Lower Island league, Glenlyon Norfolk, Lambrick Park, Parkland, St. Michaels University School, Royal Bay, Vic High, St. Margaret’s and St. Andrew’s form the double-A and single-A division.
“I think you’ll find Reynolds and Oak Bay at the top, for sure. Both had strong junior teams last year and both are returning a lot of their squads, too,” said Stingers coach Jackie Cunningham, who remains the league commissioner.
“Oak Bay is strong and Reynolds is usually a contender with their soccer academy,” agreed Rachel Yager, co-coach at Claremont. “We’d like to be in the middle of the pack there. We have a little bit of work to do, but we have a strong core and we can definitely build around that.
“A lot of teams started earlier than us, so we’re a little behind the 8-ball, but we’re building our strengths. We’d like to do well at the UVic tournament and use that as our building block and take a run at Islands,” added Yager, who has just a pair of Grade 12s on the young Spartans team.
Cunningham, meanwhile, has a more experienced mix.
On this day, Lydia Heywood opened the scoring in the 12th minute and it remained that way until a pair of quick goals early in the second half managed to break the Spartans’ defence. Olivia Longpre made it 2-0 in the 47th minute on a super cross from Jocelyn Mackey before Mia Hilton tallied just a minute later.
Hilton added her second of the afternoon, pouncing on a rebound off a corner kick and drilling it off the crossbar and down.
“It was a nice result, they battled very hard,” Cunningham said of her crew, for which she has high hopes. “Expectations, as always, are to get to the Island championship. You always want to be in the post-season.”
As far as the league is concerned, Ryan Cup quarter-finals are set for May 2, followed by semifinals on May 4 and the championship game on May 9. The Island finals at the triple-A level are slated for Victoria from May 15-16, although a host school is yet to be finalized.
Provincials for all three levels are scheduled for May 31-June 2 with single-A at Immaculata in Kelowna, double-A at L.V. Rogers in Nelson and triple-A at Burnaby North.