Cochrane Lady Rangers take home Silver

On April 3rd 2009 the Cochrane Lady Rangers travelled to Lethbridge to take part in the 9th Annual Memorial Cup which is a soccer tournament that attracts talent from all over Alberta. Cochrane arrived on Friday night to face the Calgary Crusaders for the first of their four match ups. The message was sent out to the rest of the opposition as the Lady Rangers crusied to victory with a resounding 5-2 victory.
Saturday brought two new challenges in the form of the Edmonton Ice and the Calgary Furies. After falling a goal behind to the Ice, the Rangers battled hard and equalised early in the second half. With the match finely balanced, Cochrane broke free of the tight Edmonton defence and scored their second and winning goal. It was the perfect start to a tournament that has offered little reward to the Lady Rangers in recent years.
Pitted against another Calgary team on Saturday night, in the shape of the Furies, Cochrane were trying to extend their winning streak to three. The game started cautiously with both teams needing the win to stay in contention. The Furies took the lead early in the first half with a strong free kick but the Rangers responded quickly by stepping up the tempo of the game and it paid off when they squaked an equaliser over the line just before the half time interval. The second half was frantic and saw the Furies win an arguable penalty that was susequently converted, to Cochrane's dismay. That spelled the end of the winning streak as the Furies fired home two more quick goals before Rangers claimed a consolation late on.
Tied for second place, Cochrane Rangers knew that a win could only tie them for first at best, but a loss could see them fall as low as 4th. They fought hard against a very determined and skilled team from Medicine Hat, the Subway Strikers. The pace of the game was remarkable as two tired teams duked it out late on Sunday night. At half time the game looked over as Medicine Hat walked off holding a commanding two goal lead. With 25 minutes left to play, the Rangers conjured up some magic and played with immense heart as they lived the mantra "never give up". Rangers first goal of the game wasn't pretty but Laura Pecharsky pulled them back to within one of 'The Hat". It still looked all but over for Cochrane with time swiftly running out, but with only a few minutes remaining a sublime piece of skill gave Amy Paul the space she needed to slot home a beautiful left foot strike that tied the game and gave Cochrane Lady Rangers the second place overall finish that they deserved.

Squad (left to right)
Back Row: Jason Petrovic, Janeen Williamson, Sarah Williamson, Laura Pecharsky, Amy Paul, Alana Staples, Ayla Ownes, Tristan Norman
Front Row: Chesley Fricker, Megan Teghtmeyer, Shari Shigehiro, Lisa Murray, Sarah Stott and Goalie Stacey Wells