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Ponoka Soccer was represented at the Wetaskiwin Spirit Cup by the Under 11 boys (Young/Bolton), Under 13 boys and our Under 13 girls team, which features four girls from Wetaskiwin. Play commenced June 15 with the Under 11 boys downing Wetaskiwin 5-0, and the Under 13 girls tying with Camrose 0-0.
Saturday saw the Under 11 boys lose two very close matches: 5-4 to Edson and 4-3 to Bentley. Round robin results placed our kids in the bronze medal game versus Wetaskiwin on the morning of June 17, which Ponoka won handily, with a final score of 8-1.
The Under 13 girls played some of the best soccer of their season at this tournament. On Saturday they drew 1-1 with Stettler, and lost 3-0 to Whitecourt; Sunday morning the girls lost 2-0 to Edson and finished fourth overall.
Adding to the Storm tournament season medal haul was our Under 13 boys, with a gold medal. Round robin play on Saturday had the boys playing three matches. They posted a 6-1 win over Rimbey followed by a 4-1 defeat of Camrose. Game 3 was a hard-fought 3-2 win over the first of two Lacombe teams the kids would face. The gold medal game featured the other Lacombe team. In yet another scrappy contest, our Storm kids came from behind to win 2-1.
League playoffs for the Under 17 teams and our Under 13 girls are this week.
The Under 17 girls finished first in their CASA division, and hosted Stettler Monday at 7 p.m. at the Lucas Heights fields in the semi-final. Regardless of the outcome, they host a final playoff match on Wednesday at Lucas Heights to play either for gold/silver or bronze depending on Monday’s result. The Under 17 boys finished the league in third place and headed to Stettler to play in a semi-final match. The result of that game will determine where Wednesday’s match will be held. Our Under 13 girls were in Camrose Monday night as well in their semi-final game. Full details on some of the games were not available at press time.
Ponoka Storm is hosting the CASA Tier 4 district provincial qualifier tournament June 22 to 24 at various field locations. The tournament determines CASA’s representatives at Tier 4 Rural provincials in July in the Under 13 to Under 19 age groups. With the age realignment this year, Alberta Soccer is not offering provincial tournaments for Under 11 teams.
There will be a regional Under 11 Tournament in July organized by some rural districts (including CASA) giving them the opportunity to compete in an event similar to a provincial tourney.