The Moose Jaw high school girls soccer league is about to get underway this weekend with four teams in action on the Sunningdale pitch.
The six teams — Peacock, Central, Vanier, Estevan, Swift Current and Weyburn have been busy this week with tryouts and practices, as the athletes get ready for another season of competitive soccer.
“We started Tuesday night with tryouts,” said Sandi Hutchinson, league commissioner. “We have are first games on Saturday. Teams have been going out all week.”
The Central Cyclones had a rebuilding year last year and are looking to build on some of that momentum, especially with quite a few athletes out at practice. Vanier is coming off a 2A provincial showing and with a new coach this season; the team will be looking to build off that performance.
“I think Weyburn and Swift Current will be strong again this year, but we will just have to see what happens at our first league games,” said Hutchinson. “It will be interesting to see these games. We are getting a nice bunch of Grade 9s who have soccer experience, which is nice. They are going to be a huge addition to teams.”
With the season only being just over a month long, a short season helps bring out those long rivalries between the different schools.
“Those rivalries never go away,” she said. “You will always have the Estevan-Weyburn rivalry and will also have the Peacock-Central-Vanier games. They all want to be the top team in the city.”
The Swift Current Ardens have been league champions five of the last six years and having 3A schools play in the Moose Jaw league will only benefit the local teams more.
“When you have those 3A teams coming into our league and the big schools, it just makes you play better teams,” she said. “It is nice having good competition, you don’t always like being on the losing end of those games, but it helps us in the long run when playing at regionals or provinicals.”
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
