The Sunshine Coast Storm U13 Girls exploded into the new year with all cleats a’blazing, looking to fight for a top spot in the newly sorted championship league.
The new year began on the home field of Kinnikinnick on Jan. 10 against their arch-rivals from North Vancouver, the Kodiaks.
The Storm had lost the first meeting with them back in October by one and tied the second game brilliantly here at home in December. Right out of the gate they knew this should be a day to remember as rivals often bring out the best in us all.
The passing game looked organized immediately, and energetic attacks from all players started early for a change, pushing the game into the Kodiaks’ end where it would stay for a majority of the game.
The middle was held, taken and secured by Aila. Leela tried hard to push for the net. Clara made a sweet cross attempt putting the crowd on notice, and Lauryn went for broke on the outside. Faye controlled the ball like a true professional, and Gracie was in rare form, scaring the Kodiaks with true speed. The forces of Pippa and Jasmine on defence were a real treat to see – if the Kodiaks made it into our end, it died quickly.
Time and time again they pushed the ball into striking range, defence was tight, and the energy oozed from everyone. It looked like it was going to be classic draw, but with just over a minute left to play, Paige slotted into position for a full stride steal combo, and all the fans held their breath. She had the open slot, she was moving quickly and looking straight at glory. Two Kodiaks were flanking her into the box, one pushed her in a last ditch effort to throw her off, but not today.
She slotted it in for the 1-0 win. The cycle was complete and the Storm were on top of the heap, looking proud of real teamwork.
On Jan. 17, the Storm went off-Coast to meet the Surrey Rangers for game two of the division playoffs.
Their passing game has evolved beautifully; the Rangers were clearly out of their league. The rain had stopped but the Storm had arrived.
Fantastic defensive action from Piper almost single-handedly assured the Rangers’ efforts were always for nothing, and Mary stopped anything coming her way in goal like a ninja bent on victory. Clara, who has clearly found her place in the middle, focused on playing her position and put herself at the top of the box to make it a 1-0 game before half.
It was another victory for the ever-evolving girls from the Sunshine Coast. The final puts the girls on top of the league in this exciting new soccer year.
Sunday, Jan. 31 found the Storm hosting the Vancouver Blaze on their home turf of Kinnikinnick to a standing room only crowd. It’s getting hard to see the field for all the adoring fans.
Clearly Coach Trina and Zoey made sure the hard lesson of last week – a hard-fought defeat against the Momentum in Burnaby – was broken down brilliantly during practice this week. The Storm arrived full of fire and ready to engage.
Like a pro, Paige pushed hard from the get go, slotted the ball up to Clara, who crossed to Faye for an early but futile try on goal.
Solid goaltending from Mary and incredible passes from Piper, who anchored the defence expertly. After a hard-fought battle from both sides, the half came and the game was still at 0-0.
Within 30 seconds of the second half, Paige slid into her usual rocket breakaway mode and blew through every defence the Blaze had and put the ball in for a 1-0 start to the half, which would eventually win them the game.
Constant teamwork by all, patience for good passes, using the space afforded by the field and wanting it more than the next team lead to wins like this one. The Storm are truly wicked when they get that recipe right and the reason they are still on top of their division taking on the city teams with confidence.
