The CVUSC Thunder U12 girls soccer team is through to the semifinals of the Coastal Classic Cup.
Braving howling winds and pounding rain on March 13, the Thunder (sponsored by Tenth Street Chiropractic) won their U13 Coastal Classic Cup quarter-final 1-0 over the visiting U13 Maple Ridge GEUSC Thunder.
"What an effort showed by all the girls over the 70 minutes of torrential rain," a team spokesperson said. Against the wind in the first half the girls played soccer the way its supposed to be played, confidently passing to each others feet through the backfield, via the midfield and up to the strikers.
They had several attempts on the Maple Ridge goal during the course of play and on several corner kicks, but the fantastic work by the visiting goalkeeper kept them at bay. At half time the score was nil-nil. Halftime itself was eventful with the CVUSC tent being catapulted by the wind into the GEUSC bench - luckily no one was injured.
In the second half with the wind at their backs the Comox Valley girls dominated the game, keeping the ball in the visitors' end most of the time, firing shot after shot at goal only to be rejected by the strong line of defence.
It wasn't until the 59th minute that a counter attack and breakaway by Haley Smith led to an initial great first save by the GEUSC keeper, but the second shot by Danielle Robertson was driven just inside the goalpost to put CVUSC up by 1-0. Just to keep the fans biting their nails to the whistle, GEUSC mounted a couple of final counter attacks of their own which were thwarted by the CVUSC defence and outstanding saves by Camryn Curts.
"This was truly a team effort, won by players who won the ball every chance they could. Congrats to all the girls," the team spokesperson said. The Thunder host the semifinal on April 3.
Island Champs
Meanwhile, the Thunder posted a similar 1-0 win last week to capture the Island championship in their first-ever 11-aside cup game against the 99 Surge in Powell River.
The girls started out strong with a precision pass into the Powell River corner from Eyla to a streaking Nikola. Cypress playing striker and Olivia playing midfield kept up the pressure with long shots in the first 20 minutes. Fancy footwork from Zoe on the left wing, great pressure in the offensive end by Charlotte caused the Surge grief. Grace and Madeline came off the bench and made good runs up the wings. The half ended scoreless thanks to Danielle making two nice saves against the run of play.
The second half started with Powell River mounting some consistent pressure. The defensive four of Jayden, Natalie, Rachel and Abbie bent, but did not break while staying very organized and were able to send the ball forward to their attackers resulting in a Powell River goal kick. Danielle playing striker pounced on the keeper's kick and one-touched it back high over the goalie, into the net for a well-deserved 1-0 lead. Powell River was not going to go quietly and responded with heavy pressure in the last 10 minutes.
Powell River won a corner kick with three minutes left. With the fans screamingm the ball sailed through the box where it was met first time by a Surge shooter who sent it low to the corner. Camryn came out to challenge, outstretched her left and snatched the game from the hungry Surge.
"The entire team worked very hard for each other and while everyone played well there were a few standout performances by Rachel Heselgrave, Camryn Curts and Danielle Robertson," the team spokesperson said.