St. Thomas More finished in fourth place at the B.C. high school AA girls' soccer championships for a second straight year.
"I think we're a little bit disappointed. We beat Seycove to qualify for the provincials," said STM head coach Carlo Zavarise after witnessing the North Shore school go on to win the provincial banner in Kamloops on Saturday.
"Last year, we lost in the last moment, but in this team, I feel every player feels that we could have done better. But at the end of the day, I'm happy with the effort."
STM opened its ninth consecutive appearance at the AA provincials with an off-performance against Parkland, coming back to edge the Vancouver Island school 2-1 on a pair of goals by Samantha Drescher. Defender Leah Purdey was named the player of the game against Parkland.
The Knights bounced back with two straight shutouts over Kalamalka and Caledonia to win its pool. But the goals dried up for STM in the championship round.
STM lost 2-0 to Pool B winner Okanagan Mission in the crossover match on Friday, surrendering a first-half corner kick before a mixup in the back end put the Knights two goals down midway through the second half.
STM took the game over in the final 25 minutes but came up empty on the scoresheet despite outchancing the opposition.
In the consolation final it was a similar midfield-dominated match for the Knights against Lambrick Park of Victoria, before losing 2-0 on a pair of quick goals coming in the 25th and 28th minutes.
In pool play, Daniella Falcone, Katrina Abel and Commissioner's XI pick Drescher all scored single goals in a 3-0 win over Caledonia.
Against Kalamalka, Drescher, Abel and Kassia Hayek, with a pair of goals, all tallied. Midfielder Andrea DiLorenzo was named player of the game against the Vernon school team.
"Fourth is fourth, we're not pleased, but it's two times for us to make the semifinal," said Zavarise.
Seycove defeated OK Mission 1-0 in the championship final.
