Six Athabasca soccer teams have qualified for provincials, and while the tournament may not grab as many headlines as the World Cup, provincials garner their fair share of anticipation and preparation — plus, there’s bound to be less biting.
The U12 girls, U14 boys, U16 boys and girls teams, and the U18 boys and girls teams have all qualified. The majority of them will head to the Youth Tier IV Rural Provincials July 11–13 in various municipalities; however the U16 girls will head to the U16 Girls Tier III Provincials in Mill Woods Aug. 15–17.
Shelly Younker, coach for the U16 boys, said her team will have to play as hard as they ever have at their provincial tournament in Three Hills.
“We may have just a full lineup to play,” she said. “We may have only one sub; we’re not 100-per-cent sure yet.”
She said she believes the boys have the stamina to make it work; they had some practice with a reduced roster after the team ran into injury trouble at a recent tournament in Camrose.
“The boys are still recovering,” she said. “We took (last) week off due to exams and grad.”
Practices will gear up again this week, she said, and the focus will be “to play as a team and be as good as they can be — because they are good.”
The U18 boys team coached by Terry Lovelace is heading to Vermilion to compete in provincials.
Lovelace stated it was easy to qualify as there were no other teams to compete against in the Tri-County league.
“We automatically entered into provincials,” he said.
In preparing for provincials, Lovelace said the team has been playing a local men’s team.
“It is good practice for us,” he said. “The men’s team is stronger than any team we have played all year.”
Lovelace stated the team has only lost one game at three tournaments they have attended.
