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Ponoka Storm soccer teams have strong showing

Ponoka Storm soccer teams had a strong showing at the Millet Classic Tournament.
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League action: Ponoka Storm’s U16 boys played a solid game at the Lucas Heights soccer pitch June 1 against the Sylvan Lake Blizzards. The boys defeated Sylvan 3-1 with goals scored by Bryce Scott (2) and Ethan Little. Photo by Jordie Dwyer

Four Ponoka Storm competitive teams participated in out of district tournaments over the past weekend and came away rather well.

Both the U12 boys teams, and our U14 girls team (which is made up of Ponoka and Lacombe girls) registered in the Millet Classic Tournament. The Summer Sizzler Tournament in Edmonton North hosted our U16 girls.

Storm U12 boys team “Hinton” started round robin play Saturday morning with an 8-2 win over Thorsby; the boys followed up that afternoon with a 5-2 win against Devon. Sunday morning the team played an early match with Leduc and added a 7-2 win to their results. This put team Hinton into the semi-finals.

Team McLean kicked-off tournament play with a solid 3-3 draw with the Wetaskiwin team. Early in the afternoon they beat the host Millet group 5-0 and finished round robin play on Sunday morning with a 6-0 win over Calmar.

When the slots were filled in for the semi-final matches, our two Ponoka Storm teams were to play each other.

By all accounts it was a fantastic match – at the end of regulation time it was a 2-2 draw and the score remained that way after the prescribed 5 minutes of overtime. After penalties, Team “McLean” advanced to the Gold Medal game and Team “Hinton” would play for bronze. Both our teams were victorious – gold medal was won in a 5-0 win over Devon, and the bronze medal awarded to Team “Hinton” with a 5-2 win over the team from Hinton.

Ponoka’s U14 girls faced a strong Leduc team in their first match at the Millet Classic, posting a 3-1 loss. In the second game, the girls faced Beaumont and notched a 7-0 win.

Because their division had just three teams, and by virtue of their second place finish in the round robin, Storm faced Beaumont again in the semi-final match. Ponoka came out with a 4-1 win advancing them to the gold medal game where they met Leduc. Our Storm girls won a Silver Medal in a close 1-0 loss.

The U16 girls travelled to the Summer Sizzler Tournament in Edmonton. Friday night they faced Sherwood Park and started the tournament with a solid 2-0 win, playing with just 10 players. Their next match was Saturday morning with the McLeod Royals, and the girls posted a 2-1 win to give them first place in their division and an automatic trip to the gold medal game.

Sunday afternoon Ponoka defeated Sherwood Park 1-0 to add the Gold Medal to the weekend haul won by our other teams.