After a few anxious days back in September, the McMath Wildcats’ field hockey supremacy in Vancouver and District play is alive and well.
The Wildcats captured their fifth consecutive Carey Cup as zone champions with a win over Kitsilano last week at Minoru Park to also lock up another berth in the upcoming provincial AAA tournament in Surrey.
Girls high school field hockey has a rich tradition here and the talent pool was deep enough about a decade ago for Richmond to have its own league. McRoberts was a powerhouse for a number of years — winning a pair of provincial championships — while many players have gone on to play at the CIS and NCAA levels. The Carey Cup is named after Lance and Nancy Carey for all the work they did in developing and supporting the sport, in Richmond and beyond, for many years.
Richmond Field Hockey Club is still producing standout players, evident on this summer’s provincial teams, however, the talent pool has thinned out where McMath is the lone city school to keep its program going.
Even that wasn’t a certainty back at the start of the school year. With a core that includes junior national team prospect Dakota Chan, along with Team BC members Georgia Booker and Aish Sander, the Wildcats still needed to find more players.
“This year has been pretty tough actually,” said McMath co-coach Kira Carre who shares the duties with longtime parent volunteer TJ Sander. “For tryouts we only had 11 or 12 girls and had to beg and plead with a few people to come out. We have some who are in just Grade 8 or their first-year of club.
“I think field hockey in Richmond is still big and strong, it’s just become a little bit tougher than it has in the past with the talent spread out.”
It’s also taking the efforts of Carre and Sander to keep the program going. Carre is actually teaching at McNeill this year but remains loyal to a team she first started volunteering for four years ago.
After a slow start, the Wildcats are playing their best hockey of the season and will be looking for another top eight finish at provincials. They went 6-1-1 in regular season play and got past Eric Hamber and then Kitsilano to earn district honours.
The 16-team provincial championships takes place next week at Tamanawis Park.
“With the few numbers at the beginning of the season we didn’t know what to expect but, each game, the girls have got better and better,” Carre added. “We’re really excited about the provincials. We don’t play many games (outside of league) throughout the year so it’s nice to come in as an underdog and surprise a few teams.”
