The women's open indoor soccer team has become the first Cochrane Rangers team to appear in an Alberta Soccer Association (ASA) provincial final in over a decade.
On Mar. 24, they won silver in the tier 3 provincials after finishing the round robin undefeated and topping their four-team pool.
An astounding display of goalkeeping prowess saw the Red Deer Kickers win gold in a 3-1 final.
Team manager Sarah Tas expressed great pride in what the team accomplished in their first season together in the indoor league.
"The team seized the opportunity to play with vim and vigor, clinching the silver medal, doing their Calgary Women Soccer Association league, community of Cochrane and Cochrane Ranger Soccer Club proud," says Tas.
The tourney kicked off for the Rangers on Mar. 22 with a 4-3 win against the Bumblebees FC from Lethbridge. Kaileigh LaRocque-Walker opened the Rangers tournament scoring with a beautiful free kick from the right wing with help from Sam Karman distracting and screening the keeper. Janine McCue, Julia Hume and Karman went on to net goals for the Rangers' side.
The opening matches kicked off provincial tournament goal scoring sprees by McCue and Hume, who netted five and four goals, respectively, over the four-game tournament weekend. McCue had at least a goal in every game and a both McCue and Hume each had a brace in the Saturday evening game.
Next, the Rangers beat the Beaumont FC, 4-1, who was also coming off a win on Friday night. Super saves by Riyan Dillon-St.Pierre and strong defending coupled with penetrating runs by Kat Dennis, Madie Marcotte, Heather Higgins and Nicole Caithness saw the Rangers keep Beaumont to only one goal while Tricia Cech, Hume, Karman and McCue put the Ranger points up on the scoreboard.
The Rangers wrapped up their round-robin play with a 6-2 win against the Blaiderz. Rangers found their stride, netting six goals: a brace by Janine McCue, a brace by Julia Hume, and singles by Erika Bates and Cech.
Heading into the gold medal game, the stats of the Cochrane Rangers and Red Deer Kickers in round-robin play were virtually parallel. The key difference was the Kickers had the lowest goals against in the entire Open Tier 3 Provincial Tournament.
Tas says the Rangers soon to learn why.
Rangers opened the scoring with a tremendous goal from Janine McCue, her fifth of the tourney. The Kickers immediately responded only minutes later tying it up 1-1.
Tas says the Rangers outplayed the Kickers in the first stanza with a flurry of shots on net, determined back-door runs, lay-offs setting up shots, crashing the net and screening the keeper.
In the second half, Kickers struck about five minutes in. The Rangers put every ounce of energy and determination into each shift, peppering the kicker keeper with shots, but nothing would drop. With 16 minutes left, Kickers struck again.
"Our team played with everything they had," says Tas. "We could get past the players on the field, but we could not penetrate the fortress in the Red Deer net. She put on an astounding display of goalkeeping prowess and won the game for her team."
The team thanks the fans, friends, family and board members who made the trek to the Calgary Soccer Centre in the SE to support the team and cheer us on. There were pom poms, placards, signs, cow bells, applauding and cheering.
Medaling at the provincials was the icing on the cake for a successful season. Leading up to the provincials, the team was number one in the Kickstart tournament, CWSA league play, and CWSA playoffs.
On the horizon for the Open Tier 3 team is the outdoor 2024 soccer season after being promoted from tier 4 at the end of the outdoor 2023 season.
Cochrane Rangers Soccer Club has competitive and recreational programs: women's open tier 3, women's open tier 4 and women's O40 teams. There are also men's soccer programs and co-ed programs available.
For details visit here.