Despite losing last week in the championship game of the Fraser Valley championships, Earl Marriott’s senior boys soccer team is still a confident bunch, and eager to hit the pitch at provincials next week.
The Mariners, who’d been on a win streak of late, finally saw their string of victories snapped when they fell 3-1 to the Enver Creek Cougars Thursday, thus finishing second in the Valley.
“Enver Creek is a very good team, and they had a very strong striker,” said EMS coach Nathalie LaRoche.
“The boys were upset to lose – it was a hard lesson for them, maybe a wake-up call – but we’re still proud to bring a second-place (banner) back to EMS.”
Captain Sean Einarsson scored the Mariners’ lone goal against the Cougars; his tally early in the second half temporarily tied the game 1-1.
Enver Creek scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the game to emerge victorious.
“We were able to tie it up, and it was close. But they really came at us (hard) in the last 10 minutes or so,” LaRoche said.
Making the loss harder for the team, LaRoche said, was the fact that the majority of the boys were part of Marriott’s junior team that lost in Fraser Valley finals two years ago.
“It was a little hard to swallow for some of them,” she said.
Prior to Thursdays tilt at Enver Creek, the Mariners had already qualified for provincials, which are set for Burnaby Lake Nov. 24-26, and LaRoche is confident the team will fare well at the B.C. showdown.
“We had a good practice (Monday)… they’re all excited and positive,” she said, adding that the team had a few adjustments to make prior to provincials.
“We’re going to work on attacking more on offence, that’s for sure – we need to score more goals – and we might change up some defensive formations, too, depending on who we are playing.”
LaRoche did not know who Marriott’s first-round opponent would be in Burnaby, as the tournament schedule had not been released by Peace Arch News’ deadlines.