Despite some great individual efforts, the L.V. Rogers secondary school girls field hockey team has struggled at the provincial tournament.
The local squad is winless after its first three games in the BC Secondary School Girls Field Hockey AA Championship taking place at Collingwood school in West Vancouver.
The girls began the tournament Wednesday morning, dropping a 2-0 decision to the host team.
“We played equal with them,” said head coach Val Gibson.
“They had more penalty corners, which led them to some great shots on goal.”
The coach said the penalties were approximately 20 to 2 in favour of the host squad.
“That means they were putting it at our feet on purpose and we were not able to move out of the way on time,” she added.
The girls played again that afternoon, losing 5-0 to number-one ranked Crofton House secondary.
“Our girls are playing great. We’re not making any huge errors. We just aren’t used to playing at that speed.”
Gibson said her squad normally plays on natural grass, while the Lower Mainland teams play on much faster artificial turf or water-based turf fields.
“It’s not an excuse, it’s just a reason... We’re getting outplayed because they are used to passing on that type of field all the time. We just don’t have the speed with the ball.”
She credits her goaltender for keeping the team in the match.
“Had it not been for Tara Yowek, the goalie, the score would have been much higher.”
She said Yowek is one of the main reasons the local squad qualified for the tourney.
“The defence has also been stellar,” she added.
In the third contest, the locals dropped a 3-0 decision to Windsor.
The locals will now play in the consolation bracket of the tournament.