It appears the best season in the history of the McMath senior girls field hockey team didn’t go unnoticed.
The Wildcats concluded a memorable 2017 campaign by hosting the provincial “AAA” championships last November and producing a fifth place finish in the 16-team event. That came on top of a perfect run in league play and capturing the Vancouver and District Championship.
Now the city’s only team is back at work with a healthy roster of 18 players. That’s five more than a year ago when on several occasions the team was challenged to put enough players on the field.
“We have four new players who hadn’t touched a field hockey stick until two weeks ago and that’s great to see,” said parent volunteer coach TJ Sander. “And we are still encouraging more players to come out if they want. I’ve always been about promoting the sport and you never want to turn girls away.”
It was Sander's daughter Aish and Dakota Chan, a pair of U18 provincial team players, who led the way for McMath a year ago. Chan has graduated and taken her soccer career to the University of Nebraska while Aish should have a dominant Grade 12 year. She was unavailable for Thursday’s season opener against Magee but the Wildcats still rolled to a convincing victory.
Among the goal scorers were two of the first-year players, while Grade 12 defender Samantha Trueman and Grade 11 Sabrina Fata had dominant games.
Sander made a six-year commitment to guiding the program which coincides with his two daughters coming through the school. Harmony has already graduated. The goals for the past five seasons have been the same.
“We try to approach everything in steps and increments. We always want to be on top of our league and the next step is winning the zone championship which gets us into the provincials. Even when we hosted provincials we had that mentality last year. We didn’t want people to think that was the only reason we were there," said Sander.
“The girls have done a great job with their roles and buying into the team system. They are there for each other and it’s great to see their success as a team. Dakota and Aish led charge last year and now it’s time for other girls to step up.”
League play with a steady diet against Vancouver opponents will continue through October. The provincials will take place next month at Tamanawis Park in Surrey.
