The U16 girls’ soccer team had a rough game on Thursday, May 22 in more ways than one, ultimately succumbing to Lacombe with a final score of 4-0.
“The girls set up some great plays to the net and showed a lot of class in a game where they were reporting to Lori (Zitaruk, assistant coach) and myself that they were ridiculed by one official and physically beaten up by the visiting Lacombe team,” said coach Kyla Praski.
She added that the Lacombe team was allowed to play rough and the Stettler team was advised to play as rough.
The supporters in the stands were loud in their support of Stettler, cheering on individual players when they had control of the ball.
“We appreciate officials and the difficulty in their tasks but I highly suspect the loud crowd in the stands was due to the rough play on Lacombe’s part, and they were begging the officials to clean it up,” Praski said.
The team continues to play with injured girls, but Praski says the team is doing well for the challenges they have to overcome.
“Tired girls did their best to fill in for one another and I admire those girls so much,” she said. “This is one fantastic team.”