The soccer season took off once again following the long weekend with a huge slate of league and tournament games for Ponoka’s Minor Soccer Association (PMSA) teams.
With age category changes taking effect this season, it means many young players are experiencing their first taste of competitive soccer.
Rob McArthur, PMSA president and coach of the U11 girls team, noted that while the level of play is new for the majority of the players, the teams are beginning to adapt and grow as the season progresses.
“For my U11 girls, we got throttled in our first game by the league’s top team. To be honest, most of the goals against us came because our girls were like, ‘Wow, this game is so fast.’ Our next game was against a similar team and the girls earned a tie,” he said.
“They are doing well and getting better. Our three best players are the ones that played a few games up a division last year, so it shows that gaining that experience can be a huge benefit.”
To denote the U11 girls progress, the club posted a 2-1 loss — with the lone goal coming off the foot of Jaelyn Lubach — in an exhibition game against a strong city club from Red Deer May 24 in Ponoka.
McArthur added that it’s been a bit tougher slog for the boys teams, but for the bulk of Ponoka’s competitive teams overall, the season has been positive.
“One of our U11 boys squads went undefeated over the weekend at a tournament, while most of our club’s in league play aren’t at the top or in the middle, but somewhere in between.”
Tournament results
Speaking of that tournament, the Sherwood Park Classic, the U17 girls walked off with a silver while the U11 boys took top spot in their division with Greg Bendera doing double duty as head coach for both squads.
The girls opened up with a 3-0 shutout on goals from Brook Smith, Emma Bendera and Brooklyn Budd and then drew the host club 1-1 with Grace Smith netting the lone marker to make the medal round.
Smith punched Ponoka’s ticket to the final with both goals in a 2-1 victory over Sherwood Park, before falling to Edson 4-3 with Bendera, Smith and Leah Jensen doing the scoring.
Meanwhile, the U11 boys played three separate Sherwood Park clubs — posting scores of 5-1 and two 3-3 draws — and defeating Drayton Valley 5-2. Noah Bendera had an excellent weekend with a pair of hat tricks and scored twice in two other games. Jace Taekema had a goal in each of the four games with Deacon Tulp scoring a goal in each of the two victories.
CASA action
Central Alberta Soccer league play saw a lot of fields in action last week.
The U11 boys clubs each played twice against teams from Camrose with the Bendera squad falling by scores of 5-4 and 5-3, while the Young club lost by counts of 5-2 and 3-1.
In U13 play, the girls fell 2-0 to Stettler and the boys lost 9-5 to Camrose before hammering Rocky Mountain House 11-0.
Other action had the U15 fall 8-1 to Camrose, the U17 girls edge Rocky Mountain House 2-1 and the U17 boys defeat Lacombe 7-3.
