The St. Anthony’s Sabres senior girls soccer team hosted their first game of the season on Tuesday, September 14, and while the result looked lopsided, the team played to win.
“We have to finish. We had a couple break aways, and a couple chances inside the box,” said Makse.
The Sabres were on the attack throughout the first half. A short bench hurt them with untimely substitutions, and Foothills Composite scored two goals in the last two minutes of the first half.
“In the second half we came out strong again, we were all over them… but we couldn’t finish again,” said Makse. “We didn’t get any breaks that game, but you are not going to win many games if you don’t score any goals.”
Foothills Composite is the largest school in the league, and was able to carry 18 on their squad, while the Sabres have just a handful of substitutes on the bench. Last year, Foothills won the zone championship. Despite these strengths, Makse said the Sabres proved they could play along side the best teams in the league.
“Wow, it is finally evident we are the same age and grade as these other schools, and they might be that much bigger than us and have 30 kids trying out for their team, but we can definitely compete with them, and we know we can beat them,” said Makse.
It is a short season for soccer. On Thursday, September 16 they were slated to play Highwood High School in High River, and then this coming Tuesday, September 21, they play Holy Trinity Academy of Okotoks.
Next weekend, September 24 and 25 the Sabres host its third annual Senior Sabres Invitational Soccer Tournament and have invited five teams from the league to play. The Sabres’ Friday game versus Canmore will also double for its league game. The Sabres’ first game of the tournament is Friday at 10 a.m. versus Strathmore.
