The Athabasca ASA won silver at the U18 boys tier four rural soccer provincials in Vermilion, but the glittering hardware was not necessarily the greatest achievement of the three-day tournament last weekend.
“The highlight for the tournament for us was we played a team that we’ve basically identified as our nemesis in soccer: the Hinton team,” said coach Terry Lovelace.
Athabasca beat Hinton 2-0 during their first game at provincials.
Just last month, Hinton beat Athabasca at the Camrose Night Classic for the gold medal in a heartbreaker of a game: Hinton scored with 30 seconds remaining to win 1-0.
“They beat us in provincials in the gold medal game two years ago,” Lovelace added.
This time around, “It was a huge victory for us to win 2-0 against them.”
That win and the one that followed it did not come easy, said Lovelace.
“We didn’t have an easy game in any of our games,” he said. “We were in a very difficult division.”
Athabasca was undefeated heading into the gold medal game, having beat Olds 5-3 and tied Bonnyville 3-3. However, the Athabasca boys fell to the Lacombe Panthers 4-2 to take silver.
Athabasca’s U14 boys also played in Vermilion and won silver, too.
“The teams are pretty close. It’s really a pretty good competition,” said coach Greg Soluk.
His team beat Cold Lake 4-3, the Young Guns 9-1 and Sherwood Park 3-1. In the gold medal game, however, the Athabasca Flying Farmers could not fend off the Camrose Impact and lost 3-1.
Soluk said the Flying Farmers’ keeper, Ryan Tomuschat, stood out during the tournament with some key saves.
The U16 boys played in Three Hills, and the Athabasca FC grappled with a decimated lineup to place fourth.
“We were going to the tournament with only 12 players, and then we had a couple of fairly substantial injuries, so we were … down to sometimes nine and 10,” said coach Shelly Younker.
The other teams had 15 or more players, she noted.
One player may have broken his ankle, said Younker; the severity of the injury was unknown as of press time. Another had a concussion.
Despite this, “They played phenomenal,” said Younker of her remaining players. “We were kind of the underdog.”
The Athabasca U16 boys made it to the bronze medal game, losing to Three Hills 3-1.
Younker said the tournament was well run and very sportsmanlike.
“There was no rough play whatsoever. It was great,” she said.
Athabasca’s U12 girls took fifth at their provincial tournament in Edson.
“They have had a great season and have played hard all season,” said coach Pat Neumeier of the Pacers.
Athabasca’s U16 girls have also qualified for provincials; however, they will not compete until Aug. 15–17 in southwest Edmonton.
