Embedded Files
(From the Stanstead College yearbook)
Senior Girls
Ricky Bobby famously said, "If you ain't first, you're last..." Well, we couldn't agree less. We might not have been first, but we weren't last, and we were proud of that. True, we didn't have the best season we could have. We gave BCS their first win in about five years. We definitely had some bad games, but we had some good games, and we even had some great games.
We kept the 2-time CAIS champions to a 4-1 game. We even scored on them. But do you think we could score against Galt? I mean, I know they were good but Havergal was way better.
We made it to the semi-finals against Galt, and it was another great game. We held them to 0-0 until a minute before half. The girls killed themselves on that field just days after CAIS —exhausted and sore all over. We were in every minute of the Galt game and made them earn that win.
All in all, we coaches are proud of our girls. We did better at CAIS this year than we did last year. We worked hard, we learned (not to take a penalty kick before the ref blows the whistle, that only took 2 lessons) and we improved. And in a two-month season, that is all we as coaches can ask for, and we consider that a definite win.
Junior Girls
We started this year with eight bantams and nine juniors. We were young and inexperienced and we knew we would likely have a tough season. We were right. The other three teams in our league were bigger, stronger, faster and better soccer players than us. We lost every game in the season by a lot, only managing to score one goal during the season. Now what? Hang our heads and give up? Nah. We got work to do.
Like defence. Let's work on defence. Compress the team shape inwards, take away space, cut down passing lanes, put pressure on ball carriers, take away time and force low-percentage shots from outside the box. This all sounds good in theory but it is very hard to measure objectively when the other teams are still beating us by, well, a lot. There were a few indicators of success.
First, in exhibition play, we beat BCS in two out of three games (tied the other) and they were the only other team who had a similar DNA to ours: half their team were also bantams. So, we proved that our tactics were in fact working because they had a couple of very strong players but we effectively shut them down with our whole-team approach. That was nice.
The second indicator was the best soccer we played all season in the first half of our last game against Massey Vanier. They had scored four goals in twenty minutes in the first game of the season but in this, our ninth and last game of the season, it took them all of twenty minutes to score one goal. They must have been a little frustrated at half time when the score was only 2-0 for them instead of the usual 5 or 6. This is an indication of success on the year.
My favourite part was without a doubt the final two practices when we played bantams versus juniors for all the marbles. Juniors just barely won those games but you all played your hearts out and this bodes very well for the future of our program with some bright up-and-coming talent and speed.
Very special thanks to rookie coach Amy "Art" The Rock" Laroche. She is gonna be great. She cares and it shows. You all remember some of those epic wipeouts in practice? I love those. They show effort, grit, determination and heart. Something we could all use more of, all the time.
(From the Stanstead College website, September 25th)
Athlete of the week: Krystine Breton
In only her first year at the junior level, this Grade 9 central defender from Magog, Que. has been such a natural leader in the first three weeks of the season that she has already assumed the mantle of unofficial captain of the back line.
In both of her first two games, she was near flawless with her decision making, her positional play and her timing on the ball. While there may be faster or more experienced players on the pitch at any given time, Krystine always manages to be in the right place at the right time, a testament to her intuition, her focus, and her outstanding soccer IQ. No one reads the play, snuffs out potential threats and supports her teammates better than Krystine. And to top it all off, her coach describes her as “super nice, super helpful, super keen and super positive.”
For having such a “super” start to the season, Krystine Breton earns the first Athlete of The Week of 2019-20!
(From the Stanstead College website, October 16th)
Stanstead hosts CAIS SG soccer tournament
Stanstead College will play host to 13 schools this Thursday through Saturday as we host the 2019 CAIS Senior Girls Soccer Tournament.
Stanstead last hosted the national tournament in 2010, and we are once again looking forward to showcasing our skills, beautiful campus and sporstmanship for visiting schools from the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario.
Action starts at 9 am Thursday morning, with each team playing three round-robin games over the two opening days before realignment in quarter- and semi-finals. The consolation and championship games will be played Saturday afternoon.
(From the Stanstead College website, October 23rd)
Athlete of the week: Samantha Smith
A model of consistent excellence, Samantha Smith, Grade 12, could have been nominated for AOTW every week of this season so far.
Never flashy or loud, all this stalwart central defender from Georgeville, Que. does is make the right play, over and over, game in and game out, without fanfare or worrying about the highlight reel. Despite playing multiple positions, she is unquestionably the leader of the back line, she always knows where to go, she sees the field well, and she wins the vast majority of balls that come her way. In fact, she does this with such apparent ease that her coaches often forget to give her praise and have caught themselves sometimes taking her for granted. Well, not this week! Congratulation to Samantha for her well-earned AOTW award – better late than never!
(From the Clarion, October edition)
C.A.I.S is an annual tournament
held at a different school every year. This year, Stanstead had the opportunity to host it for the first time since 2011. On October 17th, private schools from all over Canada made their way onto Campus.
The rainy weather made for a slippery start. Our senior girls had their first game at 11am against Havergal College.
The score board did not speak for the team’s performance. Havergal having won last year's tournament, our girls gave them their best game of the year.
Later that day, Stanstead had their second game against Greenwood College School. Despite the tough loss, as always, Elisabeth Shane had some insane saves.
On Friday, a tired team came onto the field against Saint-Clements school. Playing a great game, for a promising afternoon game, in which the whole school was dismissed to come and support. Despite losing that game as well, walking off the field other teams must have thought our girls had won.
You must wonder: Did Stanstead win a single game!? Yes, yes they did. On Saturday, against our rivals, BCS. Having previously lost to them 4-3, our girls outworked them and won 1-0. This tied up the tournament. A tournament in which bonds were reinforced and friendships were made.
A great weekend for girls soccer, and an even greater weekend for Stanstead College.
Report abuse