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Minor soccer has its ups and downs

U12 United soccer boys complete regular season undefeated and other soccer round up details.
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Jamie Van den Brink of Ponoka U18 girls starting an attack from the midfield against the visiting Camrose squad on Sunday

PONOKA NEWS STAFF

Last week was an eventful one for Ponoka minor soccer teams with U12 United boys completing their regular season undefetead to contest the championship, including a whopping 17-0 win, while Ponoka Minor Soccer Association had to lodge a complaint with Central Alberta Soccer Association after controversial officiating led to one U18 Ponoka player being ejected just for saying “Jesus Christ” in protest against an unfair call in the boys’ game in Lacombe.

Ponoka Minor Soccer Association President Rob McArthur said they lodged the complaint about the behaviour of the Lacombe referee and added the issue was resolved “to the satisfaction of CASA”, but did not give any details as to what the resolution was.

As Ponoka News was prepared for publication on Monday, June 20, U18 boys were taking on Lacombe, this time on home turf, with the league champiopnship at stake.

The final results of last week’s games and Ponoka scorers were as follows:

U 18 girls hosted Camrose on Sunday, June 12 in a rescheduled game and sent the visitors home empty-handed with 6-3 win. Tess Pearman scored three times with Nikki Smith, Jamie VanderBrink and Jaime Smith adding one each to the tally. “We played extremely well for having a week and a half off and playing the 1st place team,” said coach Lonny Behm. “We moved the ball very quickly and effectively.”

The next day, U18 girls hosted Stettler and won again with a score of 3-2. Tess Pearman undersigned two of the goals with Jamie VanderBrink scoring the third.

June 13 was also the day of the controversial game in Lacombe for the U18 boys who lost 5-1 with the sole point coming from Dillan Bouma for the Ponoka side.

U14 boys also played Monday, June 13, sending Wetaskiwin home without a win, earning their points witha 3-2 victory. JanHarm Bakker, Bryce Scott, Jace Van Scheik each scored one for the Ponoka side.

On Tuesday, U12 boys United scored 17 goals and conceded none, playing against Rimbey. Ponoka’s scores came from Brayden Lubach (7), Ben Hinton (5), Luis Baitinger (3) with Nathaniel Yeo and Zach Hinton adding one each.

Ponoka’s other U12 boys’ team held Wetaskiwin to 1-1 draw at home with only score for the hosts coming from Cameron Haagsma.

But other Tuesday games were not so lucky: U12 girls lost to Camrose 3-0 in an away game while U16 girls gave in to Lacombe at home with a score of 3-1, with the only point for hosts scored by Emma Gendera. As for U16 boys, they lost to Camrose 7-0 in an away game.

On Wednesday, June 15, U12 United boys drew to a 2-2 tie with Camrose in an away game, goals scored by Brayden Lubach and Ben Hinton. U18 girls also tied with their Camrose hosts 2-2 and scorers were Tess Pearman and Leah Jensen.

The same days U14 girls thrashed Stettler 4-2 as Nicole Lagarde and Brooklyn Budd scored two a piece. U14 boys, for their part shook the Rocky boys in an away game with a 4-2 win, as Jace VanScheik had two goals and JanHarm Bakker and Niklas Schlak one each.

On Thursday, June 16, Ponoka U12 Y lost to Stettler 9-1 in an away game with the only point for the visitors scored by Jackson Saunders who was called up from the U10 team.

For their part, U12 United boys defeated Sylvan 4-3 in an away game as Luis Baitinger had two goals, Levin Spitzer and Brayden Lubach one each.

U 16 girls travelled to Sylvan Lake to play to a 2-2 draw with scores for the Ponoka side coming from Emma Bendera and Brooklyn Budd, who was called from U14 girls’ team.

After these results, U12 United boys were scheduled to take to the field for playoff semi-final on Tuesday, June 21 to advance to the league championship final if they win.

The U14 boys finished in second place at the conclusion of the regular season were hosting Stettler on Monday, June 20 in their semi-final match.