Gabriola Girls Soccer
Saturday morning started quietly for most Gabriolans as the heavy fog kept us from moving too fast and brought the world a little closer to us all. but for the Gabriola Wolves it provided a perfect backdrop for game time preparation. Having almost every player succumb to some sort of sickness in the last few weeks the cool fog was a good environment to get their game faces on. At 10:00 AM thru the mist, a quality side from Qualicum walked on the pitch with one goal on their minds: to best the Wolves on their home field, in response to a 4-1 defeat the Wolves handed them last fall at their field in Qualicum. Game on!!
Back and forth action, both teams feeling each other out to start, keeping the game wide, and some smart passing by both sides was evident early on. Wolves defender Jacklin was a wall that no Qualicum player could breach today, maintaing poise with the ball, and feeding up to the midfield on a regular basis. On the rare occasion that Wolves keeper Miho was tested, she responded with quick reflexes to scoop the ball and smash it up the field to the forwards. Luisa, Anais, and Finlea played forward positions with enthusiasm, hounding the other team on the counter attack, and when they came up with the ball moved it swiftly up the field to put Qualicum on their heals.
Making her debut for the Wolves Shelby did all that was asked of her. She was given a taste of the action and was relentless in her pursuit of the ball, making it difficult for the opposition to set up in the Wolves half. The first goal arrived in the latter stages of the game. It started out as a Gabriola corner kick from the right side. Anais struck a crisp pass to Natasha on the right corner of the box, she then rifled a pass across the penalty area through a crowd to find Finlea there to one time a shot in the corner. First half ended.
The second half the Wolves energies began to wane. More frequent substitutions were made in order to keep as fresh a side as the Wolves could muster. Natasha played her heart out the entire game moving the ball throught the midfield with Miho, Anais and Finlea as her targets. With a new keeper in net the duo of Tess and Nicola steered the Qualicum strikers outside. Tess, again calm and steady, and Nicola, whose confidence seems to grow with every game were outstanding. Finlea who was on fire this game made a couple of stellar runs up the field. On her last posession she was able to direct a ball out of the air, off her chest and direct it toward the goal. With one swift motion she fired on net only to be denied by a quick thinking keeper. Dying minutes the Qualicum team mustered a couple of good chances, one being a high powered shot to the top left corner, but incredibly, amazingly, yet not completely unexpectedly, Jacklin leaped in the nick of time to win the game for the Wolves 1-0.
Next game Feb 11th at the school, 10:30 AM. See you there.