My experience with Conestoga College these past 2 years have been an experience I won’t forget. My first year with Conestoga was one to remember. It was going to be a big jump for myself, from playing high school soccer to playing college soccer in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA). I was lucky enough to have a great group of girls to share great memories with in my first year at Conestoga.
August came along and camp was starting. I knew when camp started that it was going to be a good year. We had a couple new additions to our team this year, starting off with two 5th year players who came from The University of Western Ontario. Having those two players added to our roster this season was a good step for us.
Another addition we added was our coaching staff. Our men and women’s soccer team had a new head coach, Peter Mackie. He was a great addition to both our teams and we saw big improvements in our formation and how we played on and off the ball.
I thought our team had a great year. We started the year off with a 5-2 win over George Brown College. Both myself, and the girls from Western, Paige and Amy, scored to get the lead over them.
Once the season started to pick up more it was getting challenging and Peter had to make some tough decisions. One of the choices he made was putting me in left back against the undefeated Humber Hawks. I personally was a bit nervous because I am not a defender. Going from centre midfield to defence was a big change for myself and the team. It worked though because we were tied throughout the whole match, until we hit the 80th minute and Humber’s Hayley Mackie scored a cracker shot from mid and just went over our goalie making it 1-0 for the Hawks. We played strong and we were competing at their level and to make it just a 1-0 loss was impressive on our part.
Conestoga has shown me a lot these past 2 years and I’m honoured that I was a part of the program. Winning Rookie of the Year for the college in my first year and getting named OCAA/CCAA Athlete of the Week for women’s soccer in my second was an honour. I’m glad I got to share it with a great group of girls and a great group of coaches.
It’s tough for me to say that after the college strike took place I withdrew from the college. It was a very tough decision for myself because if I dropped out it meant I couldn’t play indoor soccer. It was a hard choice because I love the game so much and to not be able to play with the girls this winter is going to be hard to watch from the side lines.
I’m excited to be playing back in the OWSL this summer and I look forward to meeting up with old teammates again and making new friends.
At this time, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Conestoga College for all they have done for me over these past 2 years. Supporting me and for taking care of all my injuries and concussions I have dealt with. I would also like to thank the coaching staff for supporting me and for getting me to where I am today. I look forward to seeing them again in the future even though at this point I’m not sure where I will be next September. Big thank you to everyone who was a part of my experience in the OCAA these past two years.
Breanna Senfner is a 19-year old from Kitchener, ON who graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute. Aside from soccer, she enjoys snowboarding and hanging out with her friends.