The girls’ soccer team at Osoyoos Secondary School finished the Valley playoffs in an impressive second place and now goes on to the provincials in Vancouver. This was despite having a younger team and playing against private schools that draw players from a larger area. (Photo supplied)
The girls’ soccer team at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) is headed to the provincials after coming second in recent Okanagan Valley playoffs.
The provincials take place in Vancouver from May 29 – 31 and will include 16 ‘A’ teams from across the province, said coach George Mocci.
The girls completed a successful Valley playoff tournament in Kamloops May 7 – 8, said co-coach Steve Schulting.
They won three of four games, only losing the final game 3-0 against a strong team from Immaculata Catholic Regional High School from Kelowna.
“They were a very strong club,” said Schulting. “Immaculata is the number one team in the province, so they are favoured to go on to win the provincials, so 3-0 is not a bad result.”
In the first game, Osoyoos beat Ashcroft 3-0, followed by a 7-0 victory against King’s Christian School from Salmon Arm. Osoyoos won a third game for the semi-final in shootouts against Kelowna Christian School.
“We’ve done very well against A and AA schools all year,” said Schulting.
The OSS girls team has had a longstanding reputation of qualifying for the provincials and doing well at them, Schulting said, noting there was only one time in recent years that the team didn’t do as well.
“We had a difficult time a few years ago when we missed,” said Schulting. “It was kind of a rebuilding time. This year again there are a lot of young kids on the team and so making it (the provincials) as a group of young kids is still pretty impressive.”
Students on the team range from Grade 9 to 12, but there are about six or seven juniors so the team is fairly young, he said.
The Osoyoos team is likely the strongest public school in the province, as evidenced by a tournament of public schools held May 2 and 3 in Osoyoos, which the local girls won, said Schulting.
Private schools are in a different situation, he suggested, noting that they draw from a larger catchment area and so can attract a number of strong players from a wider geographic area.
“I think that the kids have been working really hard,” said Schulting. “They’re a really close knit group so they get along well on and off the field. We’ve done very well this year.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
