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Ladysmith Secondary’s Senior Girls soccer heads back to provincials

The Ladysmith Secondary School Seniors Girls soccer team is off to provincials for the second time in as many years after a hard fought season.
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The Ladysmith Secondary School Seniors Girls soccer team is off to provincials for the second time in as many years after a hard fought season.

As like last year, the team is made up of girls from Grade 8 through to Grade 12. They’re travelling to Nelson for the tourney on June 1-3 to face 15 of the top teams from across Britsh Columbia.

“The girls on this team have grown up together, many of them playing soccer together since they were 6 years old,” said coach Kathleen Nicholls.

Earlier this season the team attended the Carihi Secondary Investors Challenge Cup, and with some close wins and even closer losses, the team placed 2nd in the Cup division.

With each game, the girls were starting to gel better and by the end of league play and seeding play, LSS was the #1 seed for this area heading into North Islands. As was the case in the first tournament, there were more close wins and losses -all within one goal - and saw the team place 5th, guaranteeing them a berth at the Island Championships.

“Before the first game I told the girls that this was awhole new tournament, and there was no reason that they could not win the whole thing,” said Nicholls.

The first game saw LSS walk away with a win against the number one seed from Victoria, Glenlyon Norfolk thanks to goals from Mary Nicholls, Olivia Mazurenko, Haven Bouma, and Georgia Nicholls.

The next game saw LSS matched up with their nemesis, Brentwood College. It was a tough battle with back and forth scoring chances and then late in the second half an amazing top-corner shot by Janet Leblanc put LSS on top.

The girls held on to that lead and put another win under their belt. Their final round-robin play was against Ballenas. Based on the results of the other games from the previous day, LSS was already guaranteed to be in the Island final, and also automatically guaranteed them a berth in the BC High School “AA” Senior Girls Soccer Provincials for the second year in a row.

The final game was against the host team, Francis Kelsey. Last year, LSS made it to the Island final and lost in shootout to SMU; for the LSS players returning from last year, that defeat was still fresh, and now they had a second chance. The girls fought hard with solid defensive play by their back line, and although they went down early on a contentious goal, LSS came back with two goals from Jane Hawthornethwaite and Shea Battie to take the Island title.

A large number of girls on the team are graduating this year, with 2 of the grads, Georgia Nicholls and Shea Battie, already signed to play soccer at Vancouver Island University in the fall.

“I grew up in Ladysmith, and I had great sport experiences because of great coaches who volunteered their time, like Dave Mack, Laura Mazurenko, and Jim Cram. Seeing other coaches in action, like Tony McCrory, and my own parents, Mary and Sid Clarke, made me want to be that for these girls,” Nicholls said. “I am hoping for big things from these girls, because they have the skill and the desire to win, and each of these girls plays for their teammates.”





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