The crown in Round 1 of the dental office teams goes to Dr. Lee.
Dr. Lee Dental Center brushed off Pleasant Valley Dental Center Controllers 2-1 with a tooth-and-nail effort in North Okanagan Women’s Soccer Association Masters Division play Tuesday night at MacDonald Park.
Second-place Dr. Lee started with only 10 players on another hot night for soccer with play going back and forth for the first 30 minutes. Keepers Michelle Embleton of the Controllers and Lisa Arrotta of Dr. Lee) both delivered some clutch saves to keep it scoreless until the 35th minute.
Arrotta sent a quick kick to Julie Bolin, who found a streaking Jacquie Charvet through the middle of the field, Charvet took the ball to the net, beating three defenders and finishing in the far corner.
The Controllers levelled the score with eight minutes left when Marnie Brandl delivered a stellar pass to Elena Sookarow for the finish.
This stirred up the entire Dr. Lee team who were down again to 10 players (due to an injury) — with a great bit of passing from almost everybody. Loren Hutton passed outside to Bolin, who once again found Charvet breaking through the middle and outrunning the entire defensive line to beat Embleton to the far side again.
Iris Ready stood out with her game of the year for Dr. Lee (9-1). Kudos went to the defensive line of Ronda Thomas, Amanda Bolton, Jennie Currie, Hutton, Paula Brownlee and Irene Arrotta. Dr. Lee chose Embleton as the Player with Heart.
Michele Wernicke, Brandi Hunter, Mandy Frederick, Christyna Whieldon and Martina Allen turned in a tight defensive showing for the Controllers (0-5-5) getting the ball up to mids Jessie Bicknell, Marnie Brandl, Amanda Durfeld, Tara Murray and Elena Sookarow. Forwards Jacquie Nuyens and Michelle Steiger ran kilometres to create scoring chances.
The league-leading Chick Kickers had to work extra hard to dispose of the stubborn Courtesy Motors Sistas 4-1 at MacDonald Park.
Coach Gary Dill flipped his 10-0 lineup over and gave regular defenders a chance to play up front. The Sistas held the Kickers off until 25 minutes when Dawn Ansdell took a feed from Player with Heart Steph Curtis before splitting the defenders and burying a left-footed rocket far side.
Marley Wournell kept the ball rolling with some fine work down the right flank and put a gorgeous cross to striker Tania Sladen, who one-timed it over keeper Wendy Nadeau. Ansdell added another, assisted by Wournell before Mel Jacobs, from Sladen, finished the attack.
Sniper Wendy Magnus was stoned on a penalty shot by Nadeau in the first half. Kickers’ keeper Robyn Sherwood surrendered only her third goal this season after some fine passing up front from Andy Zubot to Diane Neudorf. The goal was started as a throw-in from Kerry Hemstad to Zubot, who zipped past the defence before crossing it back to Neudorf, who finished from the 18 near the 40th minute. Neudorf took the Heart honours.
Defensive hounors for the Kickers went to Sharon Storms and Jamie Onefray on the outside and Joanne Lockhart and Jenn Kemper at centre fullback. Deborah Rosher and Liz Peterson both delivered outstanding outings coming off the IR for Courtesy Motors. Wendy Beuckert and Peterson were both solid on defence.
Vernon Liquor Store VQA stopped Shuswap Kaos 4-1 at Blackburn Park in Salmon Arm.
VQA’s Carla Gibson finally smoothed off the edges of her points and planted a beautiful header into the net off a high, hard corner from Harmony Crockett.
Crockett buried a shot from way out on the flank with fabulous grace and accuracy bending it the way she always has, making it 2-0. Ginger Nickoli went top cheddar for extra insurance.
“I think I saw all these goals during World Cup games this last week,” said VQA veteran Shelly Johnston. “These girls have been watching.”
Keeper Sue Barss (nee Schmeichel) was brilliant and was well protected by Leah Willinger, Lindsay Smith, Sasha Haddow and Diana Embleton.
Rosters and the Shuswap Merlot ran to a 2-2 draw at Blackburn Park.
Cheryl Roddis put Rosters in front with the only goal of the first half. Valerie Dessaullies and Megan Moore answered for the Merlot, taking the lead with 14 minutes left.
Rosters used some stellar build-up before striker Renee Cooke sweetly finished for the equalizer. Katie Reid of Rosters and Kristi Kirik of the Merlot took Heart honours. Rosters are 3-5-2, while Merlot is 0-6-4.
Third-place TED United of Salmon Arm toppled the visiting Gray Monk Impact 3-1.
Keeper Derri Cooper left her line a few times to challenge and stymie the United shooters before they counted a deuce.
The Impact battled hard and got a lovely goal from Raegan Russell just before the break.
United added insurance on a free kick, improving to 7-2-1. The Impact dipped to 6-4.
Michele Wernicke, Brandi Hunter, Mandy Frederick, Christyna Whieldon, Martina Allen played a tight great defensive game getting the ball up to mids Jessie Bicknell, Marnie Brandl, Amanda Durfeld, Tara Murray and Elena Sookarow. Forwards Jacquie Nuyens and Michelle Steiger worked hard to create scoring opportunities.
