NEWTON — The North Delta Secondary Huskies field hockey team might not have been a favourite to qualify for the provincial championships, but the Huskies still have a shot.
Despite finishing sixth place, the team will play in a wild-card game in Chilliwack on Tuesday (Nov. 4) with the winner qualifying for the high school provincial championships, which start on Thursday (Nov. 6) at Southern Okanagan Secondary.
NDSS went into the fifth-place game with only a 30-minute break after a tough 3-2 loss to Gleneagle Secondary, and subsequently lost the following game 5-0 to Riverside Secondary.
Had the team managed to win either one of Wednesday's (Oct. 29) matches, they would’ve automatically qualified for provincials.
“We’re the underdogs,†said team captain Amber Sandhu. Qualifying for provincials “will show that we’re actually strong enough and we’re capable to go (that) far. Not everyone thinking … they’re not at our level.â€
Sandhu, who is one of the six seniors on the team, mentioned the Huskies couldn’t get any momentum due to all of the goals Riverside scored. She added that it killed some of the belief the team had in pursuing a comeback.
Priya Randhawa, a junior national team player, is one of the coaches of the team and said all of the games took a toll on some of the rookies.
“It was four games in the last two days and they’re not used to that,†said the former Husky. “They played really well considering their experience.â€
Even though the team qualified for provincials last year, Randhawa said it would be very surprising for them to make a repeat appearance.