The U15 Scorpions completed a wonderful season with a bronze medal at the gold division provincial cup in Penticton July 5-8.
When the Scorpions arrived to contest for the championship, they had one of their best in sickbay, as hard-working midfield Noah Mithrush was down with the flu that took her out of the competition. While a sick Noah looked on, the Scorpions went about the business of defeating Cranbrook 1-0.
Cranbrook had only one shot on goal and the Scorpions had a tough time finding the net, but midfielder Kendra Pomfret managed to find the onion basket.
Next up was Williams Lake.
Scorpions' coach Dave Hargreaves knew his charges were ready by the way they warmed up and presented themselves to the Lakers before kickoff. The first half was the Tianna Storvold show as she scored four goals - two with her foot and two on headers, the last one being world class (Zinedine Zidane take note) as Tianna came across the penalty box to meet a cross with a flick of her head and into the top corner.
Jenna Scott and Kim Doerksen, also on a header, put the icing on the cake for a 6-0 win.
Saturday saw a couple of more players feeling the sick and a couple with injuries. The temperature was 32C and it was humid.
The referee called time out every 20 minutes to let the players replenish their fluids. Scorpions went through four-dozen bottles of water while Penticton were acclimatized and thought nothing of the heat.
Penticton proved to be a tough opponent as they snatched a goal early, then a second. While the Scorpions pressed to score late in the game, Penticton scored again for a 3-0 win.
With that result, the Scorpions had to try for bronze in the third place game Sunday against Terrace.
Scorpions showed their ball control skills, but Terrace scored early on one of only two shots on goal.
Scorpiona dominated and really gave Terrace a lesson on ball movement, but could not find the net. Late in the game, forward Candace Veale took the ball on one foot, made a nice turn and fired home the equalizer. No further scoring in extra time so onto the shootout. Anyone who has watched the Scorpions play this year knows they are a bunch of assassins when it comes to penalty kicks. With kicks knotted at 2-2, Rachel Hargreaves took Scorpions last shot and she connected for a 3-2 with one shot left for Terrace.
You don't have the best goalkeeper in the province and not expect good results. Terrace's last shot was on its way to the corner of the net, goalie Gurveen Clair got her hand to the ball pushed it onto the post and out clinching the bronze medal.
This was the second trip to the provincial for the Scorpions and was a step up the ladder and a medal to show for it.The girls had a great tournament and grew in character from the experience.
