Cresting past September

> Royals women’s soccer wraps up first month

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

Wek four of PACWEST action
started early for the Douglas
College Royals women’s soccer team as
they took on the undefeated Langara
Falcons on Wednesday night. The term
“undefeated” has to be used lightly here,
as the Falcons had yet to win any games,
but they had also not lost any games.

If that wasn’t intriguing enough,
there was more to the match. Former
Royals assistant coach Rae Pelat is now
the head coach of the Falcons, and this
was their first time matching up. To greet
her, the Royals peppered the Falcons
with shots. They launched a total of six
in the direction of the Falcons’ net in the
first half but Falcons keeper Sydney Bell
was solid. On the other end, although
they only got two shots on net, Rhitti
Lakhanpal buried her’s and gave the
Falcons the 1-0 lead just before the half.

Determined to get the result, the
Royals came back out with intensity,
making several threatening runs.
However they were denied at every angle
by Sydney Bell, who would end up make
13 saves on the night. While the Falcons
wouldn't score either, the earlier strike
would prove to be the game winner.

Despite the tough loss, the Royals’
week was just getting started. Next up
was the ever-persistent Capilano Blues.
Hungry for the Royals’ spot at the top,
the Blues and the Royals have had some
history as of late. While the Royals
knocked out the Blues en-route to a
CCAA Bronze medal last year, the Blues
have had the most recent of victories,
taking a 2-1 decision earlier in the month.

Similar to their battle against
Langara, the Royals controlled the game
from the opening minute. However, the
Capilano Blue line was strong, and held

off most of the Royals’ attacks. The home
squad found their opener after captain
Sam Kell beat her mark and raced down
the sideline. She fed the ball to a wide
open Sonali Dholliwar who smashed the
ball into the top right hand corner to
open the scoring.

10 minutes later, the Royals would go
on the attack again. Mikayla Hamilton,
racing past her marker, sent the through
ball past the trailing defenders to a
crashing Sneha Sandhu. The pass was
perfect and Sneha just tapped the ball
into a wide open net for the goal. 2-0
Royals.

However, the Blues wouldn't be put
away so early. Claire Ye would grab one
back with an arching shot in the 38th
minute. That goal would be the last in an
exciting first half but definitely not the
last in the match. Five minutes into the
second half, the Royals got their second
half marker of an excellent goal from
Martina Pettenon.

20 minutes later, Mikayla Hamilton
would get her name on the score sheet
with a beautiful breakaway goal, tucking
the ball away behind a lunging Brittney
Roussy. Her marker would be the last in
an exciting game. The Royals would walk
away with a statement 4-1 win.

Despite the big win, head coach
Chris Laxton believes his team can still
be better. “In the first 30 minutes, I
think we were missing that last 10 per
cent—those habits that make top teams,
top teams. Then we got a great goal and
started building off of that. Overall, we're
getting closer to our peak, which is where
we need to be. Win, loss, or draw, we
learn from it.”

With the win, the Royals top of the
PACWEST table with a record of 4-2-1
and 13 points. They are trailed by VIU
who are three points behind them. The
Mariners do have a game in hand, so
the gap is a potential six points for the
Royals.

Tears bring tears

> Why more needs to be done

to prevent ACL injuries

Katie Czenczek
Staff Writer

 

ports and injuries go together like a

clean car and bird poop. It dawned
on me as | sat in the waiting room
two years ago with several others my
age who all had crutches in tow and
a swollen knee: Maybe sports aren't
as good for you as everyone believes
them to be. It wasn’t only the crutches
and knees twice the size of what they
should be that we five young people
shared. All of us had torn our Anterior
Cruciate Ligaments (ACL) playing
either soccer, football, or basketball.

For those who have haven't had the

pleasure of being forced to know what
an ACL is, it’s a very important band of
connective tissue that helps stabilize
your knee. It allows you to do a wide
range of motions such as pivoting,
walking up and down stairs, balancing,
and other movements that you will
need to be able to do basic life things.
Once it’s torn in half, as my doctor

told me, it will never be one hundred
per cent healed. This is a devastating
blow to any competitive athlete. For
me, it meant that I couldn’t work for a
year and still to this day struggle with
trusting my left leg.

Although in many cases it only
takes one weird collision to cause
permanent knee damage, I think that
there needs to be more done in order
to prevent sports-related injuries from
happening. It could be as simple as
teaching players how to collide with
their opponents without dislocating
their knee, or actual strength training
to build up thigh muscles and calves
before an injury occurs. The only two
options for injured athletes is either
to be slowly forgotten by their team as
their injury takes the time needed to
heal, or they get into a Derrick Rose
situation where they return to sport
way too early only to injure themselves
yet again. Teams need to be more
diligent in with injury prevention so it
doesn’t get to that point.

C C In the first 30 minutes, I think we were missing that
last 10 percent — those habits that make top teams, top

teams. Then we got a great goal” — Chris Laxton

 

 

Photo by Davie Wong