Spartans head to zones on high note

Times Reporter   

 

The Strathmore Spartans boys soccer team is heading into zones on a high note, after a 7-2 home win over Notre Dame Collegiate on June 2.

With zones slated to start June 5-6 in Cochrane, the Spartans played a complete game to close out the regular season.

“They played one of their best games so far,” said Spartans head coach Kaitrin McDonnell. “Everything that needed to come together all clicked from the first kick. Passing and moving the play up the field let our sweeper to get a hat trick, our striker to get two (goals), and two of our centre mids to capitalize on fast runs up the field. This win will launch the team into zones this Thursday and Friday.”

Despite a pair of defeats to close out the month of May, falling 4-2 on May 26 against Canmore and 6-1 on May 28 against Holy Trinity Academy (HTA), the Spartans are confident going into zones.

Strathmore will open the tournament with a rematch against HTA on June 5 (1:30 p.m.), before tangling with Cochrane later that day (4:30 p.m.). Unfortunately, quite a few of key players will miss the second game as they are involved in other school programs, such as track and field provincials, rugby provincials and the school’s theatre production of “She’s the Man” on Thursday night.

“The hardship right now is, we have eight players showing up to practice because of other commitments,” McDonnell said. “Our kids are multi-talented. It’s not fair to expect them to come to only one event, but it’s not helping the team when they’re not there.”

Despite missing some key pieces, McDonnell will not put extra pressure on the existing players.

“We’re going to go and have fun. I don’t want to stress the boys out,” McDonnell said. “We’re going to take it as it comes, and focus a little bit more on the team, with the enjoyment of the sport – not necessarily the winning and losing.”

So far this season, McDonnell has been extremely impressed, saying as long as the boys have fun, learn something, and win a game or two, she’s pleased.

“That’s all I can ask from these kids,” she said. “These are amazing kids. They make it easy to coach. I have seen so much improvement among so many of them, especially the kids that have never played before. It’s nice to see that they’re actually learning some skills.”