The Swift Current Comp Ardens soccer team did a lot of learning through three victories at their home tournament.
"I think we were pretty excited about our performance over three games," said Ardens Head Coach Steven Mah. "It was a grueling weekend and we're a little short on bodies and ran into some injuries issues. The girls over there really stepped up. Some players had to play some different roles, some bigger roles, but I think overall it went pretty well."
Mah saw it as a good opportunity for what is largely a younger group to face some adversity.
"I think it was kind of a mental test for a lot of our players to be able to play some different roles," he said. "Some players that normally play in the midfield and striker, they had to go to the back and play fullback. Some other players that probably are used to getting, 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off, they had to go out and play 20, 25 minutes at a time. Everybody kind of stepped up. I think it showed some resiliency from everybody, whether it was the grade nines or the veteran leaders of the team."
The Ardens started on Friday with the biggest challenge in a 1-0 win over Prince Albert St. Mary.
"We played against a really good team from Prince Albert, who probably had one of the more dangerous offensive players in the province," Mah said. "We just really focused in on her. and trying to slow her down, take away the strength of their attack and make her distribute the ball. We had a couple of midfielders in the center, Amy Regier and Liz Metke, and they're two of our oldest players. They really did a good job of keeping us organized and keeping the ball to the outside."
Mah feels like their defensive play was a team effort as they didn't give up a single goal through all three matches over the weekend.
The Ardens are 5-0 so far this season.
Their next action is September 26th and 27th in Prince Albert.