One measly goal.
That’s all which separated the Holy Trinity Academy Knights from the Foothills Athletic Council Senior Girls championship one season ago. Re-tooled with a younger lineup, the Knights are poised to make another serious run at the footy title.
“We believe we have a stronger and younger team than last season, which took us one goal short of the league championship,” said HTA coach Kris Antoniszyn. “We are very excited about the team.”
Through three league games the optimism is only growing for the squad.
The Knights are a perfect 3-0 in league play, bookended by their 6-1 triumph over the Foothills Falcons on Sept. 22.
A balanced-attack led the way in the cross-town classic as Lauren Sinclair, Alysia King, Shealie Lock, Emily Vervoort, MacKenna Dyck and Paula Josefiak all found the back of the net. Kayla Rodgers scored in a losing cause for Foothills.
“The big takeaway from our game versus the Comp was that we had six different goal scorers which really underscores our offensive abilities,” the coach added. “Our threat comes from all over the field and we have many options to go to when in need of offence.”
Offence has not been in short order.
The Knights have averaged five goals a game and, despite 40 per cent of the squad being Grade 10s, confidence also looks to be ample.
Senior midfielder Alysia King should be front and centre to the Knights attack, providing a physical presence and powerful shot up the middle. Returning strikers Amanda Rempel and MacKenna Dyck should be primary targets up-front. Taylor Mullaly is expected to lead a skilled defence corps while newcomers Abby Wade, Lucy Mundy and Abby Sinclair have already made positive impressions.
Competing against the likes of defending champion Canmore and the always competitive Falcons, the Knights have unfinished business both in and out of the league.
The team plays host to the South Central Zone championship on Oct. 14-15 at Riverside Park. The tournament will now be broken down into two tiers to create more competitive balance.
“This means that every game in the zone tournament will be highly competitive and there is a lot less room for error and much more pressure than during our regular season,” Antoniszyn said. “We ended up out of the medals in last season’s zones and we are striving to get back into the medals this year.
“To medal in a Tier I tournament is definitely an achievement we would be proud of.”
Across town, the Falcons are in building mode and the early returns are impressive.
The Falcons picked up back-to-back victories to start the season over the Notre Dame Collegiate Timberwolves and Highwood Mustangs while outscoring the High River schools by a 13-4 combined margin.
“Our team is bigger than last year and we have much more experience,” said Falcons coach Christine Victor-Horner. “We’re always against those powerhouses Canmore and HTA, but we’re learning to hold our own.
“We’re hoping there might be a chance to weasel our way into the final.”
It’s a Grade 11 and 10 heavy roster for the Falcons and one which has both ends of the spectrum with regards to on the pitch experience.
“We have some super experienced players and we have players who have never played organized soccer before,” the coach added. “We are straddling both sides of the line, but the ones with experience have been great about helping the new players and providing a lot of leadership going forward.”
The Falcons should be led by the experienced Nicole Fields, speedy striker Megan Flagel, steady defenders Mikayla Reschke, Kayla Rodgers and unflappable goalkeeper Shelby Butler, to name a few.
“We’re kind of nipping at the heels of HTA to a certain degree,” Victor-Horner said. “We’re hoping that maybe it will all come together to at least give them a run for their money.”
On Sept. 29, Foothills makes the trip to Canmore to tackle the powerful Crusaders while HTA is home to Strathmore for a 4:30 p.m. kick-off at Riverside Park.
For full schedule information on the FAC go fac.teampages.com
