The South Delta Sun Devils senior girls field hockey team is wrapping up another successful season this week at the B.C. AAA Championships in Duncan.
The usual 16-team tournament is down to 10 this year with COVID-19 travel restrictions limiting the participants to just 10. Play got underway on Wednesday and wraps up on Friday with playoff and placement games.
The Sun Devils have been seeded sixth with their pool group also featuring No. 1 Handsworth, No. 3 Cowichan, No. 8 Gleneagle and No. 10 GW Graham. They would have been a solid medal threat a year ago when the pandemic wiped out the tournament. With a young squad, they are grateful just to be there.
“With such a young and relatively inexperienced team it will be tough sledding against the top two powerhouses but our goals are quite modest, hoping to be in the 5th-to-8th place bracket and play some good hockey. In any event, we can pit ourselves against the best and see what happens,” said head coach Neil McLennan.
“I am glad that the Delta School Board and SDSS permitted us to travel as many other schools cannot.”
The Sun Devils secured their Vancouver Island trip by successfully defending their South Fraser Zone title last week. They opened with a 2-0 win over Tamanawis then took care of Panorama Ridge 4-0 in the title game.
The final showed how much progress the team had made since defeating the Surrey school 4-2 back in September.
“The girls were not to be denied and came ready to play. That was a bit of a relief,” added McLennan after a lackluster opening game win. “We played well throughout and neutralized their dangerous players very effectively so except for a few forays into our circle, we had the game under control. The final score was well deserved.”
