Last weekend, the U15 Upper Island Riptide girls soccer team found itself short seven players. With a home game against a strong opponent, Victoria South, there were only two options: forfeit, or call up youth players — a decision that at first was questionable, and potentially risky.
“We didn’t want to forfeit a home game because we are early in the year,” coach Shawn Fiddick said. “What we were ultimately worried about was their size and mental ability to play two years up at a much higher level then they are accustomed to, and the fact that these players have never played 11v11.”
The girls play in the Super 8 league for the Comox Valley United Soccer Club select U13 girls. Two additional girls were called up from the CVUSC U15/17 team.
The younger girls had a practice with the Riptide team the night before. Fiddick went step-by-step with each girl, and explained the team’s expectations of them, which is simply to ‘Go have fun.’
The next day it was evident the nerves were present. The youth players were quiet and barely spoke. The players watched the first 20 minutes of play until Brianna Kalhous and Bellarosa Ternes got the nod. At minute 25, Raina Hagel and Ella Vinzenz were also given the nod.
“It was quite impressive to see how quickly these girls adapted. Two of them have older sisters on the team, which we believed helped their competitiveness on the pitch. We thought we wouldn’t do as well as we did. Realistically, we had seven players away, some of whom are our starters, and it would be one of those games.”
What did happen, though, is that the youth players stood tall and got stuck in. Their supporters and family were also contributors to their successful play. The game ended in a 1-0 loss due to a late penalty kick at minute 78 of an 80-minite game. The youth players left everything on the pitch.
The U15 Upper Island Riptide Girls team would like to send out a huge thank you to the CVUSC Select U13 players: Bellarosa Ternes, Raina Hagel, Brianna Kalhous, Ella Vinzenz, and U15/17 CVUSC girls Nastasha Kalhous and Kassidy Stewart.