The U16 Boys Spartans soccer team made Athabasca proud by winning the silver medals at the provincial championships in Leduc earlier this month.
Their achievement was made all the more impressive by the fact that the team had no regular season with which to prepare themselves; instead they had to make due by competing in other tournaments.
“It was nice for the team to deal with the issues they did and make it to provincials,” said coach Terry Lovelace.
First up on the team’s march to provincial silver was a round robin game against Sherwood Park, which they won by a score of 3-2.
In their second game of the tournament, they battled Peace River and scored with just a minute left in the game to secure the victory.
The pair of victories moved them into the playoff round, where they played a crossover game against a team from another division.
They had a relatively easy time with a team from Calgary, handing them a convincing defeat by a score of 5-1 to punch their ticket to the gold medal game.
There they battled Hinton, and despite a strong effort in the final game, they fell short by a 5-2 score.
“Their goalie played phenomenal,” noted Lovelace.
“We got off to a slow start, we were down 3-0 in the first half. We came out a little flat and they took advantage of it.”
The team bounced back in the second half, however, and fought to claw their way back into the game.
“We dominated,” said the coach. “Their goaltender was amazing. We had a couple unlucky breaks. One shot we hit the crossbar on and the rebound we hit the post on. That would have tied the game.”
With time slipping away, the Spartans had to open up their game and take chances, and the Hinton team was able to capitalize and put the game out of reach with two more goals.
But despite falling short of the gold medals, the coach was thrilled with their effort.
“The boys played the best soccer they’ve played all year. They really rose to the challenge when given this opportunity to get into provincials and play,” he said.
In Leduc, the team also received big help from three coaches, two of whom (Jody Tangedal and Harmony Lamoureux) made the trip despite not even having kids on the team.
The other coach was Glen Smith.
“They were great with the guys,” said Lovelace.
The team also notched silvers at a pair of earlier tournaments, but earning them at provincials was the highlight of the year.
“We’ve set the bar now for future (Athabasca) teams to win gold at provincials.”
“It’s a very talented team and a great group of guys that really worked well together.”
