RYAN WILLMAN
Arrow Lakes News
The Nakusp Secondary School Sr. Girls soccer team participated in a series of small narratives that wove themselves into an epic tale of wind, shootouts and aggressive combat during last weekend’s tournament in Cranbrook hosted by Mt. Baker Secondary School. Played in a two pool, round robin format, eight teams from the Kootenay region waged battle on the pitch where old and new rivalries translated into wins and losses, the sum of which equated to an impressive 3rd place showing for the Cougars.
The fun kicked off with a match up against the Creston Bulldogs who were sporting optimistic blue and gold uniforms. Unfazed by the fancy threads and inexplicitly fired up, the grey and white Cougars came out of the gate swinging. The sheer momentum of their onslaught transformed the pitch into a one-way street that funneled every movement towards the Creston keeper. Afforded a few minutes of relief as the Cougar forward unit calibrated their shots to the narrower field of play, the Creston defense managed to stand up against the wave of offensive pressure, that is, until outside fullback, Skye Cunningham unleashed her demon and made it rain bananas. Starting with a laser beam corner kick from midfielder Kira Streliev, the ball entered a scrum in front of the net then pinballed itself out to mid-pitch where Cunningham, cool as a cucumber, was waiting. Seizing the opportunity provided by space and time, Cunningham let loose the dogs of war and confidently punted the ball causing it to sail so majestically through the air that everyone on-field paused momentarily to watch its flight path. As the ball traveled the length of the field, the Creston keeper was too late shaking herself from her awe, and couldn’t recover in time to prevent the ball from landing squarely in the net. The muted sound of ball colliding with ground broke through the trance of both teams and the Cougars erupted into a cheer as they crowded around Cunningham to celebrate the 1-0 lead. The Cougars continued to amp-up the pressure and walked off the field after 70 minutes of play to the tune of 5-0.
With a win under their belt, the Cougars prepared to collect a debt from the Selkirk Storm owing from a previous slight against the Sr. girls a few years ago on their home turf. Unleashed, the girls took to the field with enough gusto to generate nerve tingling sparks of electricity that visibly deflated the Storm into a mild weather pattern. The charge snapped into lightning when midfielders Katria Niquidet and Streliev completed their back and forth passing circuit through the defensive line to feed a sweet pass to Boswell who blasted the ball through the Selkirk keeper and notched an early lead.
The Selkirk Storm had only two answers to the offensive pressure of the Cougars and the match concluded with an appeasing 4-2 win.
Rising to the top with the other cream of the tournament, the Cougars found themselves sharing a pitch with the hosts, Mt. Baker Secondary School Wild. The one-way street was re-zoned into a two-way street, and both heavyweight teams traded blows and chances during a contest that reduced burly yards into finite inches. Showing no quarter, Streliev bore down on the scruples of her conviction and managed to unearth a beast that absolutely attacked every free ball on the field. Her work ethic was rewarded when unrelenting pressure caused the ball to pop out of the false security of the keeper’s hands and right to the foot of Boswell who easily claimed a 1-0 lead for the Cougars. Quick to answer, the Wild consumed the energy radiating from a sideline populated with cheering locals and managed to find a momentary flaw in the Cougars fundamentals to tie up the game. Both teams stubbornly refused to give up any more chances for the remaining five minutes of game time, and the match went to a shoot out.
With more scoops than a box of Raisin Bran, the Cougar shooters could not find the net and close the deal on a win. Goodman was left to shoulder the outcome of the game alone, and despite a monumental eight round effort and several impressive saves, the Wild managed to take the win and first place in the pool.
The pool crossover game pitted the 2nd place Cougars against 2nd place Invermere in a battle for the 3rd and 4th place standings. Each team managed to find a banana in a contest that was indicative of each other’s pool ranking, as skill and ferocity boiled the game down into yet another shoot out. With a welcomed chance at redemption, the Cougars lined themselves along the centerline determined not to repeat their previous game performance. Unfortunately, the girls continued to have trouble finding the net as misfires caused the ball to disregard the collective will of the Nakusp squad to go home to net. Finally, after 12 rounds (and three saves from elimination with efforts from Ashley Friedenberger, keeper Adriel Goodman and stopper Rene Goodman), Kira Streliev returned to the front of the shooting queue and delivered the ball home to clinch the 3rd place victory for the Cougars.