A season full of ups and downs ended with a thud for the Quest Kermodes womens soccer team.
For the first time in the history of the program, the team managed to qualify for the British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association provincial tournament but they were overwhelmed by the eventual champion Kwantlen Eagles in the first round, losing 5-0.
Despite the humbling exit from the playoffs, head coach Martina Franko deemed the year a success.
Our goal at the start of the year was to make the provincials and we achieved our goal, she said. I just wish we had started gelling a little bit earlier but I still think this year was a success.
The fact that the team was able to even qualify for the playoffs was a remarkable story in of itself. Quest won their final two games of the season to qualify and seemed to be on a roll heading into their first ever playoff game against Kwantlen.
Everyone was really pumped up for the game and we felt pretty good heading into it, Franko said. But Kwantlen just came out on fire and they really stepped up their game.
The Eagles exploded for five goals and Franko admitted that she was a little surprised at how good Kwantlen looked.
At first I thought that they were really just taking it to us, she said. But then they went on to beat VIU 4-0 and then beat Langara to win the tournament. Everybody on their team looked good and it was a total team effort from Kwantlen.
Franko said it looked like a completely different team that squeaked out a narrow 1-0 victory over the Kermodes on Oct. 10.
Shanay Sanga, who scored the Eagles second goal, was named the Booster Juice player of the game for Kwantlen while defender Lindsay Epp won the honour for Quest.
According to Franko, the girls were saddened by the loss.
There were definitely some tears of disappointment but I think they should be proud that we accomplished our goal and qualified, she said.
It was likely extra bittersweet for graduating midfielder and Kermodes captain Chelsey Forsberg, who was named the BCCAA player of the week after helping Quest win their two final regular season games. To help the team qualify, Forsberg played a tight game defensively against Langara on Oct. 23 and then scored the insurance goal to put the team up 2-0 against Capilano and secure the victory. Next years edition of the team will surely miss her leadership and poise.
Franko added that the team is going to take a few weeks off and continue their training throughout the winter. She hinted that the team may also play a few friendlies against local teams in November but details are still being ironed out.
For more information on the team, visit www.questkermodes.ca.
