The Royal LePage Navy Team Bacon brought home the Vernon Cup Under 13 Boys House soccer playoff title at Marshall Field.
The Bacon boys, who won all three of their post-season games, recorded a pair of shutouts on the final weekend, stopping the Red Bulls 2-0 and icing Team White 4-0.
Brendan Horsfield was in net and striker Josh Hyer scored both goals in the victory over the Reds. Trystin Gerstmeyer and Sayer Ford shared the shutout over the Whites, while Kyle Karens (2), defender Gerstmeyer, on a free kick, and striker Sam Frisby supplied the offence.
Blanket defence was provided by Ford, Noah Thiessen and Brody Luchene in the middle with Ethan Jamison, Saran Malhi and Brayden Bevans on the outside.
Relentless ball movement from a hard-working midfield of Gerstmeyer, Jayden Banner, Lucas Riendstra and Chris Moore kept speedy wingers Taylor Forster and Karens supplied with quality passes, while strikers Hyer, Frisby and Horsfield put punishing shots on opposing keepers.
“We would like to thank Royal LePage for helping us have a great season, and the tireless efforts of (NOYSA administrator Korberg) Marina to make everything work,”said Bacon head coach Ben Moore.
Steve Pelkey’s Red Bulls played a strong defensive game against Bacon, led by keeper Jared Bobyrk, who made many fantastic saves. The back line of Gaman Singh, Nick Alveberg, Hayden Broderick, Bryce Meausette and John Bernakevitch were stellar. Midfielders Tyler Baginski, Gavin Donald and Shane Pelkey supported nicely.
In the season finale, the Red Bulls defeated the Royal LePage Golds 6-2.
Centre midfielder Connor Johnston was his normal tenacious self. He buzzed all over the field and contributed four helpers. Dylan Henry scored twice, including a beauty on a penalty kick. David Heng scored on a sweet solo effort.
Kieran Webster, Shane Pelkey and the Red Bulls’ Mexican magician Marcelo Suro rounded out the scoring. Josh Baker received the Tough Guy award for playing all weekend on a bad ankle.
Aidan Godfrey captained the Subway Boys U15 Reds to a 1-1 draw with Team Gold to claim the Boys U15 Vernon Cup on round-robin points.
The Reds, who retained their season unbeaten record, opened the attack when leading scorer Pablo Iniguez connected. Strong defence was turned in by Rowan Wood and Ryan Squair. Keeper Patrick Dew made some clutch saves in a frantic last few minutes with Brad Conlin’s Gold boys pressing for the go-ahead tally.
League champion Alda Masonry scored three unanswered goals in the second half to erase a one-goal deficit and win the U18 Boys Vernon Cup with a hard-fought 4-2 victory over a tough H&R Block squad Sunday.
Justin Mitchell scored the Masons’ opening goal on an early breakaway. Layne Greene equalized before the first-half whistle.
Greene, whose brother Sean also enjoyed a strong game, fought off a defender early in the second half to give H&R Block the lead. H&R (Leszek Baginski) successfully fought off the regular-season champs before Jonathan Pfaffenrot levelled the score.
Quinn Jones got the eventual winner with a top-shelfer while Zach Anderson buried the insurance marker.
“It was a great group of boys who worked hard to win the league and the playdowns,” said Alda coach John Farina.
The U11 Boys Navy Blue Bombers capped off a perfect season with a 4-1 win over Team Orange, who opened the scoring early with a great individual run down the right side, Bomber keeper Nicholas Maglio almost stopping the blast with a dive.
Caele Kassa and Soliel Pitcher played superb defence for the rest of the half and a late goal by Maguire Lauridsen evened the score before the half. Showing great poise and skill was Ben Miller.
Hayden Lewis, Taylor Boisvert and Jacob Baycroft distributed the ball well to keep Orange off the ball and setting up a spirited second half which was all about ball possession, great passing and Carter Morris. The previously snake-bitten Morris made up for it, quickly flashing three fingers at his awestruck coaching staff after completing the hat trick.
Lee Christensen and Christopher McIntosh looked like mini-Spaniards moving the ball and giving Team Orange few chances. Barry McIntosh was head coach of the Navy crew.
The U12 Royal LePage Whitecaps Girls struck gold with two wins and a tie.
Erick Burnet’s Whitecaps opened with a 4-0 win over Team Red with goals from Autumn Doucette (2), Emma Doucette and Katie Dennis. Hannah McCaffrey and Emily Dahl shared the shutout.
The Whitecaps then battled Team Yellow to a scoreless draw with several shots on goal from the Doucette girls and Dennis. Dahl and Emma Doucette earned the shutout.
The Caps clipped Team Navy (Stan Pavlov) 1-0 in Sunday’s game, which decided the playoff champion.
Carly Popilchak used her powerful right foot with a few strong attempts on goal, but scored the first and only goal of the game with her left, in the low right corner.
Jackson Nicholls and Hannah McCaffrey kept working in the midfield, helping the defence where needed and supplying the forwards with good passes. Popilchak and Dahl split the Caps’ third shutout.
The strong, aggressive back line with Jordyn Ross, Paige Brown, Sarah Burnet and outstanding multi-functional sweeper Haylee Gosselin gave away limited chances.
Both teams advanced to the final by winning Saturday semifinals 1-0. Lesley Williams’ team upset first-place H&L Glass (Ed Huber) on penalty kicks while Nixon Wenger converted a penalty kick from the spot with about seven minutes to play against Caufield Engraving.
Team #1 battled back from fourth place and won the U18 Girls title by winning three shootout games after scoreless play.
In Sunday’s gold-medal match, the ‘Sedin’ sister strikers, Eva Acri and Kirsten Moore, with linemate Mariah Swanson, enjoyed several strong attacks but were thwarted by Nixon Wenger’s exceptional sweeper.
Midfielders Nicole Williams, Ana Manton, Courtney Kowalchuk and Sam Bienias frustrated Nixon Wenger with nicely timed give-and-goes.
Defenders Lauren Dyck, Sam Orr, Kennedy Louis, Alix Petit and Vicki Schley denied Nixon’s speedy attempts at net. Late in the second, Nixon kicked the ball out of the keeper hands, but the goal was called off. Team #1 keeper Kelsey Paulin was outstanding all weekend, especially in the shootout.
After finishing second in league play, the Orange Crush struck gold in the U14/15 Girls playoffs, clipping Team Yellow 3-2 in a shootout.
Down two at the half, Crush (Sue Barss) first-half keeper turned striker Lauren Wishart started the scoring early with a gorgeous high shot. Midfielders Stephanie Miller, Ashley Condie, Elise Butler and striker Kionia Ramsey worked tirelessly to move the ball and set up chances. In the dying minutes, Hannah Swift, supported by strikers Paige Hason and Haley Lapp, converted a rebound for the equalizer.
The back line of Keira Fitzpatrick, Kayla Berlinski, Lauren Keryluke, Sarah Marshall and Geneva Delaney eliminated Yellow chances.
A drama-jammed shootout followed, with Megan Barss, Erin Hickman and Jamison Gordon Mason all scoring for the Crush. Keeper Waverley Vanderdeen made three amazing saves after a stellar second-half performance.
After finishing the regular season undefeated and starting strong with five goals in their Cup opener, the U15 Girls Subway Sharks saw their offence dry up last weekend, with a tie and two losses
On Friday, the Sharks started slow against a determined Vanilla Ice, and their only real scoring chance came late in the second half when Nikki Watson and Rajvir Randhawa strung some nice passes together to send Carlee Meausette in on net for a hard shot just wide.
On Saturday, the Sharks and Jackals battled hard in an entertaining affair that went back and forth with the Jackals getting the only goal late in the first half. The Sharks pressed hard in the second half, but couldn’t get the equalizer.
Playing for third place against the Silver Bullets (Hans Edblad) on Sunday, the Sharks again went down by a goal in the first half. Keeper Katie MacGillivray was strong to keep the Sharks in the game as they pushed forward for the equalizer.
The last few minutes saw some frantic action in front of the Bullets’ net, but they held on for a well deserved win. Coach Brian Eso said the Sharks settled for fourth place in “high spirits, with every player having had lots of action on the weekend.”
The Royal LePage Gold Lightning overcame huge odds to win the U13 Girls championship.
With five of their players either on a school field trip or injured, the Lightning still managed to rally to stop the highly favoured Reds (Paul Morgan) 1-0 Sunday.
The Bolts played a smart defensive game and conserved their energy while again playing one player short with no subs. Molly Korol showed determined hustle in midfield, while Kara Savage displayed marvellous ball control and scored with eight minutes left. Shay Petersen and Easton Gilowoski played solid defensively.
Missing their two regular keepers, the Bolts looked to Connie Kapak and Marina Demsey to share duties in a 1-1 draw with Team White. Kapak scored the equalizer with five minutes left. Petersen was brilliant at fullback, while Demsey made some spectacular saves with the game tied 1-1.
Brooke Berube also ran miles for the Lightning, whose coach Terry Petersen said: “They were the little team that could. They believed in themselves and played to beat all the odds and overcame many obstacles and adversity.”
The Royal LePage Gold, or Golden Hornets as the team liked to call themselves, won the U11 Girls crown with the Navy (Dawn Ponich) second.
Coaches Andy Overend and John Vandeleest said the girls worked extra hard in training.
“Each game they seemed to get a little bit better,” said Overend. “They faced excellent opponents who always challenged them to raise their own level of play. The entire team, without exception, grew in skills, sportsmanship, and game sense. It was a fabulous season that ended in a very rewarding way. Each of the players commented that they can’t wait ‘till next season.”
There are 2,197 players in youth soccer.
