Mohawks golden weekend, stay perfect on season

Carmen Lahache and the next generation of incredible Kahnawake female footballers have arrived, as the U14 Mohawks continued their fine season by winning a tournament in Ste. Catherine over the weekend. (Daniel J. Rowe, The Eastern Door)

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Message to the competition: You come to play the Kahnawake Mohawks U14 girls soccer team, you best bring your A-game.

Six games into the regular season, the girls have not lost a game, and, on the weekend, the Mohawks went perfect at the Roussillon Provincial Tournament to nab a team’s worth of gold medals.

Kahnawake opened Friday with a 2-1 win over CSR Ste. Catherine, which was the only game in which a ball wound up at the back of the Mohawk net.

The next three games against CSR Delson, Tornade and St. Constant were all wins by a combined score of 13-0.

Defender Kaksa’tahno:ron Deer moved up front to forward in the Mohawks’ demolition of Tornade, and scored a rare goal when she saw an opportunity.

“It was loose, so I just kicked it,” she said.

The Mohawks beat Delson 2-0 in the final to claim gold Sunday.

Kahnawake’s coach said the team’s success is due to its commitment.

“The girls worked very hard at practice, developing new skills and discipline,” said Harry Rice. “A lot of hours invested in practice.”

Midfielder Carmen Lahache said Rice and fellow coach Teken Diabo work on all aspects of the game in practice, and the team is dedicated to putting those skills into use during games.

“We try our hardest and we don’t give up,” said Lahache, who was on the team last year that lost almost every game.

Lahache said losing taught the girls some valuable lessons that have come in handy this year.

“That we don’t give up, and we have to keep on trying no matter what,” she said.

As if winning every game isn’t impressive enough on its own, the girls have conceded a grand total of two goals all season, against 24 scored.

Deer added that the team’s chemistry is part of the overall success.

“We’re good because of our teamwork,” said Deer. “We’re all very close friends, and we’ve all been with each other for the past year, so we all know how each other plays.”

sports@ed.quanglo.ca

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