Girls Soccer Team Competes at Provincials for First Time

Photo Credit: Will Jones/City of Sydney via Medianet

During this year’s spring sports season, Hamber’s Senior Girls soccer team advanced to the BC School Sports Provincial Championships for the first time in history. The tournament was held from May 28-30 in Kamloops, and the team placed 14th overall in the AAA category. The players advanced from Tier II to Tier I this season, which opened up the possibility of the team qualifying to play at provincials.

Despite advancing to Tier I, however, the Senior Girls still had to win many decisive games to qualify for the provincial championships. They made it to the semi-finals in the city championship and qualified for the Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone championships, where they won their first game against Handsworth. 

“It was really exciting because we had to win a really big game against Handsworth to get [to provincials], and [...] that was a really good win for us because it was really down to the wire,” Ashley Warren (12) shared.

After the win against Handsworth, the Senior Girls lost their next match against Kitsilano, which would have eliminated them from playing at provincials. 

However, a team in another zone chose not to use their berth at provincials, so it was redistributed to the Sea to Sky Zone. Hamber played against Howe Sound Secondary School for the empty provincial spot, winning 4–0. 

“It was a lot of pressure, because we didn’t know what to expect,” said Madi Wong (12). 

The team’s coach, Ms. J. Polukoshko (English), echoed Wong’s sentiment, emphasizing the sizable challenge that her team faced. 

“We're always hopeful to make it to provincials, which is the highest you can go, so that's really exciting,” she said. “We always try to stay positive and optimistic about doing stuff like that, but we had a really tough road ahead of us.”

Moving up from Tier I to Tier II also created challenges for the Senior Girls, after they won the City Championships in Tier II last year. 

“Moving up to Tier I, we were playing way better teams, and we were losing some games, when in Tier II, we were just dominating,” said Olivia Harris (9).

In total, the team played five games in provincials, losing the first three and the last, but winning the fourth 3-0, against Charles Best Secondary, which players felt was a big win for the team.

“Whenever we scored, we all ran up and congratulated each other, and everyone was so happy,” shared Emmy Abramson Rogers (8).  

However, the tournament was not without challenges for the Senior Girls. “A challenge was definitely continuously keeping the morale high with the results we were having," said Isla Caskey (11).

Not only does the team communicate with each other, Natalia Kurzecki (9) shared, but “we also had a lot of great coaches that were giving us a lot of good advice, so I think with all of those components combined, it was a very easy-hearted yet high-level of soccer.”

Although officially known as the Senior Girls’ team, grade 12 students are the minority on the team. Younger players who spoke to The Nest emphasized how the multi-grade dynamic contributed to their experience.

“If I were to play in a junior age group, I feel like we’d be worse," Harris said. She shared that her experience on the Senior Girls’ helped her improve over the season. “Playing against older people and stronger people [...] makes me stronger [too].”

Some players on Hamber’s team are also a part of club teams, or have previously played for other schools. 

Kurzecki shared, “At my old school, we did not have this level of community [...] Everybody was kind of playing for themselves, and here at Hamber, everybody plays as a team. We're more connected. [...] Even though it's my first year here [...] I felt really welcomed.”

For their part, the grade 12 players on the team reflected on their last year of high school soccer.

Wong said, “It’s weird to be the oldest people and it's kind of weird to think that [...] I'm leaving next year [...] It means that I don't get to watch any of them grow. [...] so it's kind of a bittersweet thing.” 

Warren has played on the girls’ soccer team throughout all of her high school career. She shared, “I remember the grade 12s were kind of scary when I was there [...], but then when I was going into this season I want[ed] to make sure that the grade 8s and 9s all feel super comfortable.”

During provincials, the players stayed at a hotel together, and they described having a very fun experience. Abramson Rogers shared that “after every game, we would go back to the hotels and we would just have fun together [...] so there wasn't really a moment when we felt like there was no energy.”

However, Warren shared that some of her teammates from previous years never got the chance to go to provincials. “I feel like it's a really nice ending that we got to go to provincials for the first time ever, in my senior year,” she added.