The two-time girls soccer league champions parlayed a jaunt through the Rocky Mountains into a landslide.
The Foothills Falcons made their Sept. 27 trip through the Rockies a memorable one as the reigning Foothills Athletic Council girls soccer champions ran away with a 6-0 result over the Canmore Crusaders, improving their record to a perfect 3-0.
Falcons coach Jared Nudd said changes in tactics were made in anticipation of a Crusaders team boasting a plethora of athleticism.
“ Canmore Composite High School always has a good sports program and so every time we play them, it doesn ' t matter what sport, they always have good athletes that play for their team,” Nudd said. “ We knew we were in for a test and had to alter our lineup a little bit. They have some fast strikers so we had to be solid with four at the back and it worked out well.”
The tactical shakeup began to pay dividends after 30 minutes of scoreless play when Nudd and head coach Candace Suhai moved Shannon Jones up to central striker for the Falcons.
“ She got the ball rolling for us,” Nudd said. “ And from then on it was just a matter of us staying solid at the back and our forwards taking our chances when they came.”
The Falcons were opportunistic in the attack with Jones notching a hat trick along with goals from Coral Chubak, Jenna Seymour and Hope Johnson.
“ I think what set us apart from them was our finishing,” said Falcons left striker Caitlin Dales. “ At the beginning we couldn ' t finish anything and mostly in the second half our finishing got really good and most of our shots were on target.”
It was raining goals for the Falcons last week as they earlier notched a 10-0 win over the Strathmore Spartans on Sept. 25 at Kinsmen Field in Okotoks.
“ We started out well, got an early goal and kind of like the Canmore game we got rolling and just kept scoring,” Nudd said. “ Our midfielders fed the ball to our forwards all game and it was just working with us.”
Jones scored three goals, Amanda Carruthers tallied a brace while Dales, Chubak, Micah Wiltse and McKinley Groothius all found the back of the net for Foothills. At the other end of the pitch Falcons goalie Brina Clark picked up her first of two clean sheets on the week.
Nudd, himself a prolific scorer for the Foothills boys soccer team in spring 2012, lauded the early season performances of Jones as an offensive catalyst for the team.
“ Coming in as a Grade 10 it ' s always tough, it ' s a brand new league and you don ' t know what to expect,” Nudd said of Jones. “ She ' s actually a natural centre midfielder, but she ' s got such a good shot that Candace and I decided to push her up at striker and she ' s just been scoring goals left and right for us.”
Foothills ' 16 goals in two games last week is a product of its depth of talent, Dales said.
“ I think we have strong players in all of the major positions and it just really helps us go forward,” she said.
Dales was a key member of the Falcons next opponent the Holy Trinity Academy Knights last season before switching over to Foothills Composite, in this, her Grade 11 year.
The Falcons and Knights met on Oct. 2 at Riverside Park in Okotoks, but results were too late for press time.
“ I ' m kind of nervous, but I ' m looking forward to a good game,” Dales said of the matchup with her former squad. “ We ' re going to have to bring up our defence, our defence has kind of been gifted seeing as we played not so strong teams last week.
“ HTA has a good forward lineup so (the defence) is going to have to bring their A game.”
The Falcons have a bye on Oct. 4, the last day of regular season play in the FAC, and will next play in the league semifinals on Oct. 11.
For more information go to www.foothillsathletics.ca
