Lancer women fail to make soccer playoffs

By Taylor Renkema

The Loyalist women’s soccer team knew they had a lot on the line heading into Wednesday night’s game.

With their post-season dreams hanging in the balance, the Lancers lost 2-0 to the Centennial Colts

Lancers captain Stephanie Turk thought the refereeing could have been better.

“I didn’t agree with some of his calls, but what can you do?” she said. “The ref makes all the decisions, it’s not like you can tell him what he can and can’t do, right? So, unfortunately, that’s just the way it goes.”

It was a “win and you’re in” situation for the Lancers, and the loss means Loyalist just misses out on the last playoff spot in the East Division. Turk says it’s tricky keeping her teammates calm, cool and collected when the game gets rough.

Head Coach Steve Whitehead agreed, adding its up to the ref to keep things under control.

“It’s rough soccer,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it, there’s a lot of hard tackles on both sides. I wouldn’t say one team is worse then the other, but the referee tried to keep control of things.”

Whitehead said he also thought the refereeing seemed to be skewed, but said it’s up to the players to win the game and put the ball in the net.

Heading into the game, the Lancers had one win, three losses and three tied games. One of those draws was against Algonquin, which is one of the top teams in the league. Whitehead says despite the loss, the team has improved since last season.

“Overall it’s the best season we’ve had in about seven years, since we made the playoffs last time, and I really thought we were going to make it in tonight. Playing at home field and the support we got from everybody was really fantastic.”