Patience and persistence paid off in a banner performance for the Knights.
Holy Trinity Academy rallied with four second-half goals to dispatch the Canmore Wolverines 4-0 to claim its fifth-straight Foothills Athletic Council girls soccer championship, Oct. 13 at Okotoks’ Riverside Park.
“It means a lot,” said Knights Grade 12 full-back McKenzie Reid. “There’s a lot of pressure. In Grade 10, it was like ‘this has been going on for quite a while.’ Then we had that break (in 2020) and we didn’t know if we would comeback and continue that legacy.
“But we did and it’s very rewarding.”
The Knights, the top-seed after an undefeated regular season, put on a full-court press in the opening 45 minutes and pinned the valiant Wolverines inside their half with a half dozen glorious opportunities to get on the scoreboard to no avail.
“The first-half it was very nervous, you get to the end of the half and you think we aren’t scoring, but you just had to be patient with it, keep persevering and keep our spirits high,” Reid said.
“(At halftime) it was a lot of just keep going, don’t back down, be patient and we’ll get there eventually, just keep shooting and keep communicating.”
The breakthrough arrived shortly after second-half kick-off.
Striker Grace Friesen charged forward through the Crusaders defence and fired a rocket of a shot into the top corner just seven minutes into the half.
HTA doubled its advantage in short order when winger Alexa Evis won the battle to a cross and got a toe on the ball in front of the on-charging keeper to make it a 2-0 advantage.
“It was a little bit different, we scored earlier in the game last time (against Canmore) and it settled the nerves,” said Knights head coach Peter Mundy. “I just said to the girls at halftime ‘you’re creating loads of opportunities and just have to keep your patience and try and stay composed in front of the net.’
“That if they kept on getting those chances the goals would come eventually.”
Friesen added her second tally and also played provider off a free-kick with her touch pass landing on the foot of Evis for a cool finish inside a crowded box.
“They defended in numbers and made it difficult for us as far as that goes,” Mundy said of the Wolverines. “We made a conscious effort to move the ball wide to try and spread the play a little bit more and with a few more shots from distance as well.
“But eventually the door opened for us.”
Knights Grade 10 midfielder Jenna Vervoort said the difference in the second-half was improved communication and trust.
“We were really focused and thinking about winning. We really wanted that banner,” Vervoort said.
“…looking at the history, it’s definitely a little bit intimidating. But we just want to continue that as long as possible.”
The bid for another banner is on the docket this week on the same ground.
HTA is hosting the South Central Zone championship Oct. 22-23 featuring a four-team field of contenders with Canmore along with Springbank and Cochrane descending upon Riverside Park.
“I think we’re going into Zones, high spirited and really confident,” Vervoort said. “I think that will help us.”
The format will see a round-robin with the top two teams advancing through to the Zone gold medal match and the third and fourth seeds battling for bronze.
The 2021 HTA Knights girls soccer team: Emma Bailey, Isabella Bregliano, Taliah Cayetano, Kailey Craig, Sidney Craig, Alexa Evis, Grace Friesen, Mackenzie Gieschen, Georgia Hodgkins, Kennedy Hubers, Cadence Laplante, Julia Len, Ryanna Leskovjan, Anna McKeel, Maria Regner, McKenzie Reid, Brooklyn Stiel, Kylie Tiedje, Jenna Vervoort and Tian Wiens.
