After a dramatic finish, Westlock’s U12 soccer team has emerged as Tri-County Soccer Association champions.
Coach Robin Brett said the team peaked at the right time during the Tri-County Cup tourney in Redwater June 21-22, and played one of their best games to win gold.
“They played with a lot of heart, and that was a contributing factor,” he said. “You can play against teams that are stronger and faster than you, and still defeat them.”
The gold-medal game against Ardrossan — the team that was the favourite to win the tourney — was decided with a shootout after a “nail-biter” of a game.
After regulation time, the score was tied 2-2, so the teams played 30 minutes of overtime.
“They actually got a goal first, then we got a goal,” Brett said.
That forced a shootout, which Westlock won thanks to some outstanding goaltending work by Abraham Properzi.
“It’s so easy in a soccer game to forget about a goalie. You always hear about the people who score the goals,” Brett said. “It was very much thanks to him that we did so well.”
Westlock came out ahead of a season-long competitor, a team from Athabasca, despite losing the first game of the tournament to them.
“In the north, anyway, Athabasca’s generally seen as the team to beat,” Brett said.
“They’re very into soccer there, and they had so many players they actually had two Athabasca teams this year.”
Saturday morning began with a 1-0 loss to Athabasca, then a 12-2 win over Legal that afternoon. Sunday morning saw the team face hosts Redwater, and battle to a 2-0 victory.
With several teams tied at a 2-1 record going into the playoffs, it came down to goals against to determine who would play in the gold-medal game. With just three goals against, Westlock went on to face Ardrossan.
