A really long break proved to be as good as a rest.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights have started where they left off since their last game in the fall of 2019 - being a dominant force in high school girls soccer.
The Knights are off to a 2-0 start this season after downing the Foothills Falcons 8-0 Sept. 23. They opened league play by thumping the Strathmore Spartans 17-0.
"Some players are very rusty, but they are getting it back slowly," said Knights coach Peter Mundy. "We have done well and the girls are getting better and better as we go along."
The Knights' season was cancelled last year due to COVID but they are the two-time defending South Central zone champions, defeating the Cochrane Cobras in the final in October 2019.
It's a different squad from two years ago, but so far similar results.
"We have 10 Grade 12s this year and they were Grade 10s the last time we played," the gaffer said. "A lot of the Grade 10s didn't get to play that much because we had a very strong team (in 2019). We have got a strong team again this year."
It's an experienced squad.
Mundy said there are 18 club players, from Okotoks, Foothills and McKenzie.
There was also plenty of school spirit to join the Knights.
"There was a big interest," Mundy said. "We had a large turnout for tryouts. With a maximum squad of 20, I had to turn eight players away. That was tough."
Knights striker Cadence Laplante was a member of that championship team as a Grade 10 student. She said this year's edition is a tight-knit Knight squad.
"I feel on this team there is more of a bond, at least from my perspective," Laplante said, who was a defender on the team. "We are all communicating. We have played with each other for years with Okotoks United."
Stil, it's been two years since the Knights were on the pitch.
"I feel like we still have to adjust to everybody's strengths and weaknesses," she said. "Our first game was a lot of adjusting and this game, a little bit more about what we are doing... Our bond is really good."
Mundy said the players move around the field well.
"They play off the ball very well and make themselves available," Mundy said. "When they have their heads up, there is usually a ball available because they have run into space to receive the ball."
For the Foothills Falcons, it is a joy to be back on the field.
"We have half our players who have never played soccer before," said Falcons coach Christine Victor-Horner. "We had just two subs, so we don't have a big team."
However, she said her team is athletic and smart and she is often asking her players: "Are you sure you have never played this game before?
"They are so intuitive of the ball.
"It's an incredible group of girls. I feel like offering the opportunity, if you have experience or if you don't have experience, just ensuring that there are opportunities for female athletes to play a sport. As we all know, we lose a lot of female athletes when they move from junior high school to high school.
"Maybe we won't be at the top of the league, but as long as we are fostering that opportunity, we are doing the right thing."
She praised the Knights.
"They move the ball very well, lots of experience, lots of movement on their side," Victor-Horner said. "We tried very hard to focus on our defence. We don't have the experience they have this year."
Foothills Falcon Maddy Webster was thrilled to have the opportunity to play.
"Right now, I am playing any position I am asked to play, mostly midfielder," she said with a chuckle. "I stopped playing three or four years ago. I came back because I enjoy it.
"We need to communicate more; we tend to clump up too much.
"We are good considering not a lot of us have played before."
The Falcons opened the season with a loss to Canmore.
