League Game No. 2: Sept. 19: Lakettes 3, Oliver 0. After a scoreless first half, Pen-Hi broke through in the second to score 3 unanswered goals.

Oliver Tournament - Sept. 20 & 21: The Lakettes tied Rutland 1-1, with Rutland notching the equalizer with less than a minute to play, on a penalty corner.  In game 2 of the day on Friday, the Lakettes downed Gleneagle 2-1, on an excellent field, under sunny skies. On Saturday, Pen-Hi was "all over" L.V. Rodgers of Nelson, but could not finish around the net despite many shots and penalty corner opportunities. The game ended in a 0-0 tie, with Nelson unable to muster a single shot on Pen-Hi's goal. The final game of the festival saw the Lakettes offense finally get unleashed against Cloverdale. Penticton scored in the first minute and never looked back, with an impressive 9-0 victory.

League Game No. 3: Sept. 24/02: Despite some very long grass on the Rutland field, Pen-Hi blasted 4 goals past a very good Voodoo goalie, and won their 3rd straight league game, 4-1. Stacey Menzies, Jacquie Kenyon (with 2 goals) and Lara Berg were the Lakettes' scorers. 

League Game No. 4: Sept. 25/02: Despite subbing freely, changing defense to offense, forced back (negative) passes, and flicks only on shots on goal, the Lakettes shooting was deadly,  and Pen-Hi came away with a 12-0 win, as a tuneup for their home tourney on Friday & Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28.  Sarah Bouchard and Tannis Peterson led the goal scoring with a hat trick each.  Other scorers were Marley Holowach with 2, Stacey Menzies, Jacquie Kenyon, and Alyssa Collis.

Grasscutter Classic: Four wins, 1 loss, in the final to KSS. Twenty-One goals for, 1 goal against. Marley Holowach led in tournament scoring, with 8 goals and 2 assists. Sarah Bouchard had 4 goals and 3 assists. Tannis Peterson had 3 goals and an assist, Kayla Pruss had 8 assists.  Other scoring was spread out evenly among 7 players.  The defense, led by Alyssa Collis, Jacquie Kenyon, Raina Halla, and Ali Dool was awesome, allowing few shots on goal. In the semi-final especially, goalie Rachel Walker was outstanding as she made several sparkling saves.                                                           

October:

League Game No. 5, Oct. 1:  The Lakettes travelled  to Princess Margaret for the first time ever, and rolled over the Mustangs 3-0. The Pen-Hi squad was not particularly sharp for the contest, possibly a bit overconfident after their 7-0 shellacking of Maggie in the Grasscutter Classic on the previous Saturday.  Goal scorers were Marley Holowach with her 3rd goal in 3 games, on a setup from Stacey Menzies and Lara Berg, at the 20 minute mark of the 1st half. In the second half,  Menzies scored on a penalty corner blast from Alyssa Collis, and Ali Dool completed the scoring, again on a penalty corner, from Collis and Menzies. Kamal Johal and Laura Bowman played particularly well for Pen-Hi. Kamal had several good free hits, and Laura carried the ball well, and made some excellent decisions when it came time for the pass. Princess Margaret seldom got out of their own end, and did not get a shot on Pen-Hi's goalie, Rachel Walker.

League Game No. 6, Oct. 2: The Lakettes played their archrivals from KSS of Kelowna to a scoreless tie. Play in the first half was relatively even, with most of the play being in the midfield. In the second half however, Pen-Hi took over territorially, with the ball spending much of the time inside the Kelowna 40 yard line. Despite several good chances on penalty corners, the Lakettes shooters were unable to get away many really dangerous shots. At the other end, the Lakettes' defenders Alyssa Collis, Jacquie Kenyon, Raina Halla, and Ali Dool, played very solidly. Collis had had some tremendous free hits, and Halla made several key tackles and good passes. A good crowd was out to cheer on the Lakettes, and at the end of the game, a first: a male streaker entertained the crowd by riding a motor scooter the length of the field in a stunt reminiscent of the '60's.  Most seemed to be more stunned than amused.

League Game No. 7, Oct 8/02: Warm sunshine and an excellent field greeted us in Oliver, along with the fast improving SOSS Hornets.  The Lakettes were coming off their 4 day mid-season break, and during the first half the team was somewhat sluggish. In the second half, the purple and blue started to roll, and Kayla Pruss drilled one past the Oliver goalie, on a pass from Stacey Menzies. A few minutes later Marley Holowach continued her scoring streak with a smooth shot from a pass by Sarah Bouchard. The defense again was solid, and when goalie Rachel Walker had to come up with a big save,  she did. No lack of focus, despite long periods of inactivity.  Player of the game had to be Laura Bowman, who made several brilliant passes, carried the ball well, and made some fine tackles as well. This was possibly the first game of the season where Laura was 100 percent physically, and it showed!

League Game No. 8, Oct. 9/02: A new offensive threat may have been unleashed by the Lakettes as they downed Okanagan Mission 6-1. Lindsay Courtice, moved up from the midfield to play several minutes as a forward, scored a hat-trick in leading Penticton to another convincing win.  Marley Holowach notched Pen-Hi's first goal, and Sarah Bouchard chipped in a goal and an assist. Uncharacteristically, the defense gave OKM a few opportunities to score,  including a couple of penalty corners, and in the last minute of play, gave up a penalty stroke. Goalie Rachel Walker got a piece of the shot with her left leg, but the ball went off the pad and into the net.  Neither Kelley Peat nor Stephanie Smith looked out of place as they played in their first game as Lakettes. Kelley scored on a first timer on a good pass from Steph, and both players therebye earned a trip to the Bridgman Cup! The Lakettes also had two goals disallowed; one by Ali Dool and one by Jacquie Kenyon, who also made some great push passes from the left half  position.

The Bridgman Cup - Oct. 11-13: The Lakettes played great hockey on the grass field at UVIC, but still have some work to do, as far as artificial turf play is concerned. The Pen-Hi squad defeated GlenLyon-Norfolk 3-0, and Victoria High 2-0 in their first two pool games, before tieing Little Flower Academy 0-0, to finish first in their pool.

     On Saturday afternoon the Lakettes faced a very turf savvy Oak Bay team, playing essentially on Oak Bay's home turf at UVIC.  The Bays shocked Pen-Hi by blasting in 3 goals in the first half, and really had the Lakettes on their heels. The UVIC men's team player Kevin Snider, together with Lakettes Coaches Snider and Bevington and the players, made several critical halftime adjustments and Pen-Hi came out flying, scoring 2 quick goals of their own, to make a good game of it. Oak Bay notched an insurance marker late in the game to take a 4-2 win and gave the Lakettes a textbook demonstration in playing on turf.

Sunday morning the Lakettes play improved on the turf, but they still lost to South Delta 1-0.  Back on the grass at noon on Sunday, Pen-Hi got back on the winning track, with a convincing 2-0 win over Little Flower (the team they had tied on Friday).  Despite not winning the tournament the team returned to Penticton a much better team after some excellent competition, and itching to make the necessary improvements to make themselves a provincial contender. Pen-Hi finished 7th, with 9 goals for and 5 goals against (4 of those in one game!) Marley Holowach had a big weekend and was in on 7 of the Lakettes 9 goals, with 3 goals and 4 assists.  One of the many highlights of the Bridgman was the UVIC Vikes Alumni Game with 1995-96 Pen-Hi star Rachel Peters playing for the Alumni, and last year's Pen-Hi star Robyn Evans playing for the current Vikes. That game ended (fittingly) 1-1 and both Rachel and Robyn showed "they still have it" more than ever!

League Game No. 9; Oct. 16/02: Earlier in the season the Lakettes played their poorest game of the season against their cross town rivals, the Princess Margaret Mustangs. The score was 3-0, but it was a disappointing result after an earlier 7-0 romp over "Maggie" in the Grasscutter Classic. Pen-Hi more than made amends for their previous lacklustre performance, as they came out flying and handed the Mustangs an 8-0 loss. The Pen-Hi squad had set 6 game objectives for themselves prior to the opening whistle, and the team was able to meet all 6 of those objectives. Marley Holowach led the scoring, with 4 goals and an assist. Stacey Menzies and Sarah Bouchard had a goal and two assists each.  A new penalty corner strategy proved effective, as 3 of the goals came on pc's and the Lakettes narrowly missed finishing on half a dozen more.  Laura Bowman played her usual great game at centre half, and the entire team showed that it was mentally sharp as well as physically ready to play good hockey. The defense, led by Alissa Collis, Jacquie Kenyon, Raina Halla, and Ali Dool, was airtight, not allowing a single shot on goal.

League Game No. 10 - Oct. 17/02 @ Mt. Boucherie: The Lakettes came out with guns blazing as they scored a record 12 goals in the first half, and then concentrated on the passing game as they coasted to a 14-0 victory. Sarah Bouchard led the scoring with a hat trick and two assists. Kamal Johal got the second goal of her life after scoring the first yesterday! Deanna Nordick played her best game of the season to date, with a strong two way performance. Hopefully the Lakettes saved a few goals for Friday's two tilts on the Burnaby Turf--West Vancouver at 3:00 and Collingwood at 4:00.

The Burnaby Lake Sport Complex Artificial Turf: October 18/02: The turf at Burnaby Lake proved to be to the Lakettes liking, as they were decidely the better team in two back to back games against North Vancouver competition. In the first game, at 3:00 p.m. Pen-Hi downed West Van 2-1 in regulation time, and in a penalty stroke competition (just for experience) it was 4-2 for the Lakettes.  In the second game at 4:00, the Lakettes dominated with a 3-1 win over Collingwood. The ensuing penalty stroke competition this time was 4-1 for the purple and gold. It was apparent that Pen-Hi had learned to better utilize the turf following the Bridgman Cup, and the hockey was at times, somewhat a work of art, as the visitors let the ball work for them far more effectively than they had done on the UVIC field. As she has been doing for most of the season, Marley Holowach again led the scorers, with three goals, including an impressive top shelf reverse stick flick. Sarah Bouchard assisted on all three of Marley's goals, while Stacey Menzies picked up a goal and an assist, Ali Dool had a goal, and Jacquie Kenyon, Tannis Peterson, and Deanna Nordick each assisted on a goal as well.  Laura Bowman shone on the turf, as did Kayla Pruss, both repeatedly beating opponents to loose balls, and dribbling and passing very effectively. Alyssa Collis injected pc's flawlessly, and Raina Halla's tackling and overlapping was outstanding. It was easy to see in these two matches that the hard work and preparation that the entire team has done to date are paying off in spades on the scoreboard and effectiveness of play. 

League Game No. 11; Oct. 23/02: The high flying Lakettes came crashing back to earth at the KLO field in Kelowna, as KSS handed Pen-Hi a 2-1 loss. KSS struck twice in the first half, both on fast break goals, to take the lead. (The first goal was kicked ahead by an Owl, on a rush down the left wing, and the second was a  high  long ball from a free hit by KSS downfield, which saw Alyssa Collis shouldered off the ball by an Owl forward, who then passed to an uncovered teammate in front of the Lakettes goal. All 3 offenses by KSS went undetected. Pen-Hi got one back in the second half, on a rebound by Lindsay Courtice  following a great free hit by Laura Bowman, from just outside the circle. A fired up Lakettes squad then poured on the pressure, but could not score again before the final whistle. Deciding factors in the game were the field, which was exceedingly rough, which negated any finesse the Lakettes tried to muster. The play was allowed to be quite physical, and both teams were allowed to hack quite liberally, a big change from Lakettes recent games at the Bridgman, and in Burnaby. KSS took very quick free hits, and were quicker to the ball than Pen-Hi. Their fast break was also very effective in the first half.

League Game No. 12: Oct. 24/02:  The Lakettes hosted the Rutland Voodoos for their final home league game of the season. Pen-Hi had sustained pressure on Rutland for much of the game, but Rutland packed their circle, and the Voodoo goalie stood on her head, to kick out all but two shots. Lindsay Courtice scored her second goal in two games, on an injection from Alyssa Collis in the first half. In the second, Collis scored one of her own--a redirect from a pass/shot fromSarah Bouchard, again on a penalty corner. Final League standings: 1. KSS 2. Pen-Hi, 3. Rutland, 4. Mt. Boucherie

Princess Margaret Tournament, Oct. 25, 26: The Lakettes won 3,  and tied 1 in pool play, to finish first in their pool, before dropping a 1-0 decision to Rossland in the Championship Final.  The Pen-Hi girls played well in all 5 games, but despite lots of scoring chances, were shutout in two games, 0-0 against West Van, and in the Final. The Lakettes earlier had downed Summerland 15-0,  Oliver 3-0, and Rutland 4-0.  In the final, the Lakettes had early pressure on the Royals, but a first half injury to star Centre-Half Laura Bowman was a deciding factor in the final result. Laura had been playing outstanding hockey, and though the rest of the squad picked up the pace, Laura's absence was noticeable. Rachel Walker made some outstanding saves in the second half, to keep the game close. Despite several second half penalty corners, the Lakettes could not muster the equalizer.

Wellingborough School, Oct. 27: After a reception and pizza lunch for the English Touring Team, the Lakettes proceeded to defeat their guests by a 7-0 score. It was good to see a cleanly contested, skillfully played, game of hockey on a good field, after some of the team's recent encounters. Leading the way for Pen-Hi was Sarah Bouchard with 2 goals, but the scoring was evenly spread among the team. Miraculously, Laura Bowman not only played, she showed no carryover from the previous day's serious looking injury. Every player played a lot, and every player played well.

Wellingborough School, Oct. 28: Except for the Alumni Game, this was the Lakettes final home game of the season. The home team came out of the gate fast, and got an early goal, on their way to a 3-0 victory. The English girls are used to playing on artificial turf, so the Pen-Hi grass was an adjustment, but one could see they were improving with each game played. Marley Holowach (sporting a great new "do") got a pair of goals, and Lindsay Courtice added another. The final goal was a real work of art, with some brilliant passing between  Tannis Peterson, Jacquie Kenyon, Kayla Pruss, and Laura Bowman, prior to Lindsay's nice finishing shot. Rachel Walker had to come up with an outstanding save, as Pen-Hi's girls got caught with not enough players back on their pc, and Wellingborough got a quick breakaway, leaving Rachel to hold the fort on her own. Another well officiated, clean, skillfully played game, by both sides. After 9 games in 6 days, the Lakettes have earned a break. No game or practice Tuesday!! This year's Lakettes may well set a team record for most games played by the time the season is over.

NOVEMBER:

The Okanagan Valley Championship - Nov. 2/02: Semi-Final Play - The Lakettes got off to a sluggish start at 10:30 Saturday morning in below freezing temperatures and thick cloud. It took Pen-Hi over 10 minutes to get their first shot on the Rutland Voodoos goal, and goalie Rachel Walker came up with 3 scintillating saves to keep the Lakettes in the game. In the last minute of the half, Raina Halla's amazing speed allowed her to  make a heroic tackle and clear, to end a dangerous Rutland breakaway threat. The sun came out in the second half, and Pen-Hi awoke from their slumber. In fact, the Penticton squad came with guns blazing, and drove home 3 goals while not allowing another Rutland shot. Marley Holowach opened the scoring 4 minutes into the 2nd half, with assists going to Stacey Menzies and Lindsay Courtice. Sarah Bouchard got the insurance marker assisted by Alyssa Collis and Laura Bowman on a set piece off a penalty corner, and Jacquie Kenyon rounded out the scoring on another pc, with the assist going to Kamal Johal. This semi-final was a must win for Pen-Hi, as a loss would have meant the season was over, while this win meant another trip to the Provincials!

The semi-final victory set the stage for the Final, once again for the 14th time in 15 years, against their arch rivals, the KSS Owls, who had defeated Mt. Boucherie in the other semi, 5-0. It was yet another classic battle. No quarter was asked and none given, as the two very good teams slugged out like two prizefighters. First one team came close, then the other, as the ball moved up and down the field with incredible pace. A good sized crowd was treated some incredibly exciting hockey, though neither team could score in regulation time. Ten minutes of sudden death overtime still brought neither team a golden goal. The game then went into a penalty stroke shootout, just as it had the previous year. This time it was Kelowna who came out on top, 1-0, as only 1 shooter out of  9 shots taken actually went in the net. Ironically the Pen-Hi shooters looked incredibly sharp just the day before in their final pre-valley tune-up. Though the Lakettes did not get the total result they were looking for, they did achieve their primary goal of making the Provincials, and their long term record is 10 championships in the last 14 years. The team that finished 2nd in "The Valleys" last year (KSS) went on the win the Provincials!

THE ALUMNI GAME - Nov. 11/02: One of the most enjoyable games of the year, without a doubt. This year the Alumni fielded one of their strongest teams ever, yet the Lakettes held them off for the entire first half, and even had a couple of chances themselves. In the second half however, the Alumni got untracked early, with Coach Snider drilling a first timer on a great through pass from Steve Neeld, in the second minute. Hailey Dettling and Brenda Lannard both showed they "still had it" with a goal each before the end of the second half. The Alumni showed mastery in the traditional penalty stroke competition too, with a 5-3 win. More importantly though was the fine spirit and skill with which the entire game was played. An important part of the Lakettes season - a rite of passage, as the torch is passed down from the seasoned veterans of past great Lakettes teams down to this year's fine edition. Those Alumni just keep getting stronger, as each year, more great players join their midst. Once a Lakette, always a Lakette, our special Lakettes Field Hockey Family continues to grow and be enriched.  It would appear that this year's version is now ready and well prepared to take on the best from the rest of B.C. in The Provincials! Burnaby here we come!

The Provincials - November 13, 14, 15: In retrospect the Alumni game was the Lakettes toughest game of the season, as even though the team won 1, tied 1, and lost 3 at "the big show" Pen-Hi only allowed 3 goals against in 5 games played. Full details can be seen at the "Provincial Championships"  Link.

  THE LAKETTES 2002 FINAL RECORD: 50 GAMES - 33 WINS, 11 LOSSES, 6 TIES; 154 GOALS FOR (3.08 G.F.A.) AND 20 GOALS AGAINST (0.40 G.A.A.) FIRST IN THE PROVINCE IN SPIRIT, EFFORT, WORK ETHIC, UNITY, POSITIVENESS, COACHABILITY, WORK ETHIC, AND FITNESS!!