Lower Island high school senior girls鈥� soccer teams began their quests this week toward city and ultimately Island championships.
Three second-half goals propelled the Stelly鈥檚 Stingers to a 4-0 victory over the Claremont Spartans at Lochside Park on Thursday.
In opening-day play on Tuesday, the Oak Bay Breakers blanked Claremont 3-0, while Stelly鈥檚 was kept to a 1-1 draw against Spectrum. Reynolds defeated Mount Douglas 4-1.
While those six teams form the triple-A portion of the Lower Island league, Glenlyon Norfolk, Lambrick Park, Parkland, St. Michaels University School, Royal Bay, Vic High, St. Margaret鈥檚 and St. Andrew鈥檚 form the double-A and single-A division.
鈥淚 think you鈥檒l find Reynolds and Oak Bay at the top, for sure. Both had strong junior teams last year and both are returning a lot of their squads, too,鈥� said Stingers coach Jackie Cunningham, who remains the league commissioner.
鈥淥ak Bay is strong and Reynolds is usually a contender with their soccer academy,鈥� agreed Rachel Yager, co-coach at Claremont. 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to be in the middle of the pack there. We have a little bit of work to do, but we have a strong core and we can definitely build around that.
鈥淎 lot of teams started earlier than us, so we鈥檙e a little behind the 8-ball, but we鈥檙e building our strengths. We鈥檇 like to do well at the UVic tournament and use that as our building block and take a run at Islands,鈥� added Yager, who has just a pair of Grade 12s on the young Spartans team.
Cunningham, meanwhile, has a more experienced mix.
On this day, Lydia Heywood opened the scoring in the 12th minute and it remained that way until a pair of quick goals early in the second half managed to break the Spartans鈥� defence. Olivia Longpre made it 2-0 in the 47th minute on a super cross from Jocelyn Mackey before Mia Hilton tallied just a minute later.
Hilton added her second of the afternoon, pouncing on a rebound off a corner kick and drilling it off the crossbar and down.
鈥淚t was a nice result, they battled very hard,鈥� Cunningham said of her crew, for which she has high hopes. 鈥淓xpectations, as always, are to get to the Island championship. You always want to be in the post-season.鈥�
As far as the league is concerned, Ryan Cup quarter-finals are set for May 2, followed by semifinals on May 4 and the championship game on May 9. The Island finals at the triple-A level are slated for Victoria from May 15-16, although a host school is yet to be finalized.
Provincials for all three levels are scheduled for May 31-June 2 with single-A at Immaculata in Kelowna, double-A at L.V. Rogers in Nelson and triple-A at Burnaby North.
