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Local Soccer Players Unite with Teams to Win at Provincials
Local Soccer Players Unite with Teams to Win at Provincials
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
Vegreville’s Soccer Players participated at the Tier Four Alberta Soccer Provincial Tournament which was hosted by Cold Lake District Minor Soccer Association at Cold Lake on July 7, 8, and 9.
Six of Lakeland United U19 Boys who participated from Vegreville were William Sen, Connor Webb, Owen Stemberger, Ryder van der Torre, Lucas Kobelsky and Brayden Sanford who won Gold medals with this team. William & Connor are U19s and the other four boys were U17s that were moved up to U19.
Head Coach was Jose Teixeira and Assistant Coach was Mark Kobelsky. Teixeira expressed that the tournament was a big success for them in many ways.
“It highlighted the important work the team did to accomplish the wins.
From our first game onwards everyone on the team was a team player, first game warmed up the team as they got together and as a team was decided we were there to win, all players agreed to the team philosophy.
First game against St. Paul was fought hard, to play the entire game, we knew this was like the final gold medal game, the team played extremely well and we won the game 2-1.
Second game versus Olds, the game was a bit easier, we managed to control the entire game, with another big win for us 4-1
Third game against Whitecourt was like the first game, this game was fought hard by the team, and the result was another big win for us 2-1
Last game versus Athabasca was a breeze 3-0 win.
The players in general are good skilled players and the results showed how good the players did, but let’s not forget we won as a team.”
Shelley Berry, who is the Registration and Communication Director for Vegreville Minor Soccer Association, (VMSA) and 2nd Assistant Coach for Cold Lake U19 Girls explained that two local girls also played with Cold Lake.
“The Cold Lake U19 Girls Head Coach is Tim Urlacher, First Assistant Coach was Kyla Nuttal, and Manager was Megan Syr. My daughter plays indoor soccer often with Cold Lake Girls at tournaments. Britney unfortunately got sick and we were able to get Ashlyn Pewarchuk to play for Britney. Maddie Boettcher was already going to be one of the replacement players with Britney.
The girls lost their first game 2-1 against Edson and won their next game against Vermilion 5-0 and then lost against Stettler in the Silver/Bronze match 4-3, so both the games they lost were quite close. The girls won the bronze medal at Provincials.
Cold Lake is a very skilled team led by a great coaching staff and the girls loved being part of their team for the Provincials, as did I. We are very grateful to Head Coach Tim for giving a couple of our girls the opportunity to play in the Provincials. It was an amazing experience for both of them. Maddie was very solid on defense and Ashlyn was the top scorer for our team with five goals at the Provincials! I’m very proud of both the girls! Coach Tim brought out the best in them, as I’ve never seen them play better!”
Ashlyn Pewarchuk describe her journey with soccer. “This was my first year for playing for the Vegreville U19 Thunder. Last year I played U17.
I was very excited to be asked by their coach to represent their team in the provincials, I love playing soccer and I look forward to any chance I get to play.
The overall experience was very rewarding. I was challenged by older skilled players which made me work harder. It was a big opportunity to learn new skills and improve my play from coaches and players.
I’ve been playing soccer for over 10 years now, I challenge myself to improve in every game I play. I don’t look at individual points because soccer is a team sport. I wouldn’t be where I am now without the help and guidance of my teammates and coaches from all the teams I’ve played for over the years.”
