First up was Kelowna on Saturday night at the Apple Bowl. The last time these 2 teams met the Kelowna team had to endure a long bus ride prior to kick off. and according to the article in the local rag, that contributed to the loss, along with poor officiating and rough play from the Stars. The Stars won that day 4-1, and there was no doubt the Predators were looking to reverse that decision.
So now it was the Stars turn to travel all day and then step off the bus for the 90 minute encounter. But the first 45 minutes of play you would have thought they were the home team as the Stars came out flying and were rewarded for the work after only 4 minutes when Lisa Sharp deflected the ball into the Predators goal from a corner kick. Victoria continued to press, the Kelowna team struggled to get out of their half in the early stages and Victoria were on the board again at the 30 minute mark when forward Kate Hambleton collected the ball at the top of the 18, side stepped her defender and fired the ball into the lower right hand corner.2-0 to the Stars at half time.
The second half started in similar fashion as the Stars continued to push forward, but Kelowna were now starting to get themselves more room and the play was more even as Kelowna came searching for a goal to try and get into the game. Both teams traded scoring chances throughout the 2nd half and the fans were treated to a well fought encounter riddled with shots at either goal. But at the 75 minute mark the Stars put the game out of reach when Michelle Huot crossed the ball in from the right, the Pred's keeper looked to have it under control, but somehow the ball popped loose and league leading goal scorer Lisa Sharp was there to put it away. An unfortunate goal to concede at such a crucial time of the game. Backing up Victoria on the night was 18 year old Meaghan Stewart who was called upon on a couple of occasions but did well to keep the Kelowna team scorless until the 86th minute when she was left with no chance as the Pred's left winger raced in from the wing and hit a brilliant 25 yard curling shot that beat Stewart into the top right hand corner of the net.
" The first half was probably the best we have played all year." stated Stars coach Lou Garraway. " We have just come off 2 of our worst performances after we had started out so strong. This team had to do a lot of soul searching in the last week to try and shake off the poor play. I was extemely pleased with the turnaround as were the players. We started to run out of gas in the second half, but we were expecting that and our substitutes came out with the same fighting spirit as our starters. All in all I would say that this was the best team performance we have had this year."

On Sunday the Stars were hosted by Kamloops UCC Alumni at Hillside Stadium. In their last encounter in Victoria, the Stars took a 6-0 lead into the half before winning 8-1. But Kamloops had just beaten 2nd place AIA 1-0 the day before and the teams confidence was surely on the incline after suffering 5 defeats prior to their first victory of the season.
You would have thought that after such a good performance the previous night in Kelowna that the Stars would also be confident, but the fighting spirit and determination forgot to get on the bus with them, and we found ourselves chasing shadows and if it wasn't for the Kamloops lack of finishing we could have been down by a few goals at the half. Both teams struggled to master the strong winds that blew across the field, and Victoria was lucky to get away with a 0-0 draw at the half. The second half turned around nicely for the Stars despite an early goal by Kamloops that mirrored the Stars 3rd goal against Kelowna the night before. Now it was Victoria's turn to put on the pressure but the Kamloops defence worked hard and were content to keep knocking the ball out of their end looking for the counter attack. Lisa sharp was denied twice, once by the post and again by the crossbar when finally Stephanie Shaw neatly tucked her header inside the left hand post to tie the game at 1-1.
" This was not the same Kamloops team we played in Victoria." stated Lou Garraway. " The players may have been the same, but this time they played with a lot more energy and tenacity. In the first half we were lost, we made too many mental errors and we struggled to mount any attack. Kamloops beat us in the air, won most of the tackles and the knockdowns. However, I was impressed with the way we responded in the 2nd half. In fact with a little more luck we could have stolen all 3 points which wouldn't have been fair to Kamloops based on their first half performance."

The Next game for the Stars will be in Victoria, Saturday July 7 at 1:00pm at St. Michaels University School against Team BC. Victoria now sits in 3rd place with 10 points after playing 6 games. They have scored 20 and conceded 12.