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Tuesday, October 7, 2008 |
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Injury put hosts in tough position |
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Written by JASON PETERS
Citizen staff
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Sunday, 06 July 2008 |
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PRINCE GEORGE
The Kodiaks never did recover from the ominous start and, despite their best efforts, lost 4-0. The Prince George girls settled for fourth-place in the four-team division.
But, playing against A-calibre clubs, they did silence the Semiahmoo Thunder -- the eventual B.C. champions -- during the round-robin portion of the tournament. More on that later.
In Sunday’s game for bronze, the Lightning got the early jump on the Kodiaks when Sydney Raison hammered a ball from long range into the top corner of the Prince George net.
Then came the injury to Kodiaks goalie Chelsey Cherkas. On the play, she collided with a Lightning forward who was chasing down a ball for a scoring chance. Cherkas ended up taking a knee or a kick to the ribs and had to be helped off the field. Emily Warkentin, normally a dangerous forward for the Kodiaks, was forced to drop back to play goal.
At that point, everything seemed stacked against the home team.
“We needed Emily as a player and then she had to play net, so it was kind of hard that way,” said Kodiaks forward Merissa Sigfusson.
“In general, I think we played really good. We tried our best.”
The Kodiaks were on their heels for a stretch of time after the Cherkas injury but defended well in front of Warkentin. In the late stages of the half, they started to apply some offensive pressure but weren’t rewarded. Their best scoring chance came on a corner kick, awarded after a good run down the sidelines by Brooklyn Derksen.
The Kodiaks were back in attack mode 10 minutes into the second half but could not convert. Langley’s Carley Radomski scored a backbreaking goal, a big shot from the left side of the pitch that went high off the far post and in. Warkentin had no chance to make the save.
With the Kodiaks pushing up field to try to get back into the game, the Lightning scored two more times, both goals courtesy of Jade Elidoros. Her second goal, and the final one of the match, was a beautiful header off of a cross.
Kodiaks head coach Ian Wells was proud the performance his team gave.
“It wasn’t our best game, but the girls put as much effort in as they could,” he said.
“And you’ve got to give the other team credit. Sometimes it’s not a case of us not playing as well. The other team pushed the game -- they played a better game than us today.”
During round-robin play, the Lightning dug out of a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat the Kodiaks 2-1. The Langley players were more satisfied with their Sunday effort. “We worked as a team and we played really hard,” Radomski said.
For the Kodiaks, the highlight of the tournament was on Saturday when they beat Semiahmoo 1-0. On Sunday, Semiahmoo defeated the Surrey Talons 4-3 for gold. “We played fantastic,” Wells said in reference to the Saturday victory. “It was just nice to get a win. It’s difficult to win at this level.”
Morgan Samuelson netted the Prince George goal against Semiahmoo. The scoring play began with an Alix Wells corner kick. Megan Auld flicked the ball back to Samuelson, who sent a left-footed shot past the Semiahmoo keeper.
The Kodiaks completed provincials with a 1-3 record. “What we’ll take away from this is that we can compete with these teams,” Ian Wells said. “We just need to get used to playing this competition on a more regular basis. You have to travel. It’s expensive but we have to organize exhibition games against these teams and travel down and create relationships to play them over and over.”
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
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