Spartan boys soccer made zones a ‘fun’ affair

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

For the Strathmore Spartans high school boys soccer team, the placing at zones in Cochrane this past weekend was not ideal.
It seemed that the bounces did not go their way all weekend.
The Spartans opened up the tournament against the host Cochrane team and faced an uphill climb that would last the rest of the tournament.
“We knew they were a highly ranked team,” said head coach Kaitrin McDonnell.
“We lost 4-0 but held them to that fourth goal, didn’t let anything else in and the defense stood strong. We tried for those goals at every chance we could.”
The second game was against a familiar foe in Foothills Composite and was an even keeled game, as both teams knew each other’s tendencies.
“Both teams showed up and played really well but they just took it 3-0,” said McDonnell.
By the third game, the Spartans knew their overall finish and made the game against Canmore a friendly, fun match.
“The ref actually made a comment at the end of the game, ‘I enjoyed reffing that game, thank you for being my last game of the day because we had fun,'” said McDonnell.
She just let any player try any position that the team wanted as the game wore on.
“They didn’t quit and we actually talked about that at the end of the fourth game which was a really tough loss to Holy Trinity Academy, they still went every shift,” said McDonnell.
She felt that the team showed perseverance all season long and each player’s skill set continued to grow with each game.