Athabasca took a strong contingent to the Camrose Night Classic tournament last weekend, and the results were gratifying: three of the nine Athabasca teams medaled.
The U18 and U16 boys had the strongest finishes: both brought home silver after their final games June 15.
The U16 boys narrowly missed out on the gold medal. The championship game against Ponoka was 1-1 for much of the time, but in the final few minutes, Ponoka scored two more goals to win 3-1.
“It was an awesome tournament,” said coach Shelly Younker, though she added that a few injuries presented challenges for the U16 boys.
Athabasca’s U14 girls took bronze under the guidance of coaches Harmony Lamoureux and Cathy Meyer and manager Dianna Seaton.
“We won in a shootout. It was awesome,” said Lamoureux.
Regular play in the bronze medal game against Bonnyville ended in a 0-0 tie, she explained. The five-player shootout saw all of Athabasca’s players score, while only three of Bonnyville’s shots made it past Athabasca’s goalkeeper.
The girls had a little help from a U12 Athabasca player, Julianna Hanzel, who agreed to leave her own team (which was also competing in the tournament) after the U14 girls discovered they were short a player due to an injury.
The bronze medal is just the latest in a string of successes for the U14 girls. The team plays in the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association (EMSA) league. Every five games, teams within that league are either tiered up or tiered down. The Athabasca girls have tiered up twice, meaning they are now playing in the top five in their division.
“They’re just playing phenomenally. They’ve had a fabulous year,” said Lamoureux.
Athabasca’s two U12 boys teams, the U12 girls, U14 boys, U16 girls and U18 girls also played in the Camrose tournament, and even though they were edged out of the medals, they put on a good show.
“The girls played really well,” said Dawn Nelson, coach of the U18 girls, who placed fifth out of the 10 teams in their pool.
