On May 31, the North Island Secondary School girls soccer team travelled to Kelowna to compete in the three day Provincial Championships.
The team faced stiff competition on day one, playing their first game against a determined Similkameen team.
NISS didn’t manage to pot any goals in that game, posting a tough loss on their first game.
Not to be beat down and defeated, NISS came back later that afternoon for a second game against Desert Sands Secondary and posted a commanding 4-0 win.
The next day, NISS had an early morning match against the fourth ranked team in the province, Langley Christian School.
They held their defensive line strong and were able to hold Langley to only two goals resulting in a 2-0 loss.
After pool play had completed, NISS was sitting third in their pool and would have a date with Fernie later that afternoon.
On a scorching hot day, the NISS girls defeated Fernie 3-0 and would secure a spot in the ninth and tenth spot final on Saturday against a sporty Osoyoos team.
The NISS team took the field at 9:00 a.m. for their last game of the tournament, last game of the season, and for some the last soccer game of their high school careers.
NISS came out strong early on in this game and began to pepper the Osoyoos goalie with shot after shot, but to their dismay nothing was going in.
After what seemed like an innocent cross by Emma Mitchell, a beautiful touch by Heather MacKenzie potted NISS’s first goal.
NISS would go on to pot a few more goals after that.
A penalty kick scored by Emma Mitchell, and a hat trick series of goals capped off by a brilliant header into the top corner of the net by forward Kerrigan Sharpe, who played a brilliant game, securing NISS’s lead and eventual victory over Osoyoos 6-3.
After all the dust settled, the North Island Secondary School girls soccer team had placed ninth in the province.
Game MVP’s were awarded to Kerrigan Sharpe, Heather MacKenzie, Des’re Clark, Xandryn Frost, Randi Ward, Jessica Mountain and Molly Lash-Burrows.
The girls would like to give an enormous thank you and shout out of appreciation to everyone who was able to contribute financially or in any other way to the overall trip and helping to get the girls to Kelowna, where they could represent high school soccer on the North Island to the rest of the province.
- Submitted by NISS coach Greg Muirhead