Local under-15 girls squad set to defend home turf at Alberta Soccer Championship

By RYAN MCCRACKEN on August 10, 2019.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken

The Rattlers Athletic Soccer Club’s under-15 Tier 3 girls squad has been waiting all year to play a meaningful game on home turf.

Well, it doesn’t get much more meaningful than the Alberta Soccer Championship.

“It’s honestly really exciting because it’s not often that we get many teams to drive out here because they all want to do their own tournaments as well,” said sweeper Ivy Hozack. “We got to play a few games (at home) against our own teams and a few exhibition games against Lethbridge but that’s mostly it.”

The local squad opens the tournament Saturday at 11 a.m. against the Edmonton-based DUFC Tigers. Medicine Hat will then take on the Calgary Saints at 4:30 p.m. before closing out the group stage Sunday at 10:30 a.m. the MUSC Freedom. The top two teams at the tournament will then advance to the 3:30 p.m. gold medal game. While head coach Melissa Hozack says they haven’t seen much of their group stage competition so far this season, she’s confident in her team’s ability to take on the challenge.

“I think we have a good chance of winning the whole thing,” said Coach Hozack. “We’re actually about 50-50 with older girls and younger ones. I’ve been coaching for a few years now and we have a strong line all around. We’ve got a lot of speed, front and back … We’ve just got a lot of strengths all around.”

Coach Hozack added the team competed in a Calgary-based league last year, but opted out of it this summer to exclusively take on a tournament schedule – and it’s paid off with a medal on each step of the podium.

“We’ve actually really enjoyed it. Saskatoon was our first tournament and we placed gold, so we won a bunch of games there which is great. Airdrie, we ended up losing in the final, 3-0 against Okotoks,” she said. “Going into Red Deer we faced Okotoks first, beat them so we were happy about that, coming back, and then we got bronze. So a gold, silver and bronze going into it is pretty good.”

Midfielder Audyn Mettauer added she’s been enjoying the transition from league to tournament play, as it’s allowed her to get more enjoyment out of the summer on and off the pitch.

“League was not quite my favourite because we had to drive every single weekend. That was really tough on my family and my friends because I never got to hang out with them,” she said. “Now it’s like we have these huge team bonding things and the more games we get together the more we become a whole. So every time we’re together now for a tournament we’re kind of dependent on each other.”

Mettauer was recently given the Coach’s Choice Award at the team’s annual awards banquet – while Antonina Dumanowski took home the title of MVP.

“Coach’s choice meant a lot for me because it means I got recognized by my coaches and my teammates,” said Mettauer. “It means I keep building on my skills and it means I’m developing as a soccer player.”

Ivy added the team has managed to build a great deal of chemistry on the field this season, but solid communication will likely be the key to success this weekend.

“I think we have what it takes but we need to communicate more on the field and less off the field,” said Ivy. “We need to work on getting open and making sure that our players know that we’re open.”

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