They came, they learned, they busted some balls. But in the end, a single goal would prevent them from making their first ever playoff run.

“We were close and had fun, which is all that matters,” explains Ball Busters captain Kayla Zini, warding off any notion that a 2-1 heartbreaker to the last-in Black Mambas, a team they beat back in July, would somehow put a damper on their rookie season.

The FC Division squad came together this summer in Anjou as glorified strangers, a mix of former soccer players and experience-less friends of friends who had little choice but to get to know each other on the pitch. It took them seven games to collect their first win, and they managed to keep pace with far more experienced competitors without a single goal scorer in their ranks finishing with more than ten.

Although Zini insists her girls all “individually and cooperatively” improved as the season progressed, perhaps the must-win pressure finally got to them. “We gave it our all and of course enjoyed playing together as a team for the last time of the season!”

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