Morning Star Staff
The Vernon United Tolko U17 boys battled visting Kelowna United U18s to a scoreless draw in Thompson Okanagan Rep Soccer League play Sunday.
Vernon, consisting of only three 17-year-olds, held the older Kelowna boys off all game.
Coach Erick Burnet drew up a brilliant game plan to take away the passing and running lanes from the speedy Kelowna side which received several cautions from the ref through frustration.
The back line of Peter Hirschkorn, James Huntington, Sam Eggert and Wyatt Carter stifled numerous attacks, while holding midfielders Elias Jensen, Gavin Mason and Owen Burnet bolstered the defensive wall.
Shey Townley and Mees Geelkerken led the counterattack up the flanks, while Mika de Vin and Malcolm Wiens added punch in the middle. Perez Vermeulen, 15, also played a hard game in the midfield, while Kenzel Aarts-Roman and Chad Petruk made some brilliant runs down the wings. David Weir earned the shutout at Marshall Field #5.
“The boys played very disciplined, European soccer today,” said Burnet, assisted by Rolf Hirschkorn. “They followed the game plan and this tie really is like a win for us. We are really playing two years up for all but two games, so as long as we are disciplined and play good technical soccer, we should have opportunities to win.”
Tolko United U14 bounced the host Kamloops Blaze 2-0 Sunday at McArthur Island Sports Centre.
Excellent team play and accurate one-touch passes showed how Vernon has quickly matured with players anticipating and reading the game making for a beautiful game of soccer.
Midfielders Lee Christiansen, Cole Johnson and Kristian Newell controlled things, giving sweet crosses to the forwards for multiple shots at goal. Jack Christiansen hit the left post, Zack Laranjo buried a shot that was disallowed and Michael Lapp and Noah Podolski delivered solid shots on net.
Defender Ty Ogasawara was in great form moving the ball up the wing and creating scoring chances. Defender Jayden Gordon-Mason pushed through the whole field, making a cross which was almost converted into a goal.
Communication between defenders Shaun Boucher, Oliver Meyer and Joseph Neufeld kept the Blaze outside the 18, while Jarred Jameson made a sliding save to prevent a goal from the only dangerous Kamloops shot.
Christiansen nicely fed Chris MacIntosh the first goal in the 32nd minute. Jacob Baycroft later added insurance after some bold build up.
The U14s are coached by Rick Ogasawara and Robin Baycroft.
United U17/18 girls lost 2-0 to the U18 Penticton Pinnacles Sunday at Kings Park.
Vernon came out strong with goal attempts by Erin Sakamoto, Hannah Love, and Kara Ross but the Pinnacles led 1-0 at the half.
Defenders Tarah Smith, Lee Richardson, Brianne Robertson, Vicki Grahn, and Lydia Wood were kept busy with the aggressive Pinnacles. Keeper Jordynne Tomiak allowed only one goal in the second half after facing more than a dozen shots.
Vernon U15 girls rallied for a 3-3 draw with Kelowna U16s Sunday at Mission Sports Fields.
Kelowna went ahead 3-0 at the half on a series of missed clearances by Vernon.
The Vernon girls matched Kelowna’s physicality in the final half with Jai Sidhu clicking on a penalty shot and Taylor Anguish and Mason Christensen also finding the net.
Maja Splawinski and Jordan Butler in midfield, and Paige Latta and Dannika Roy on the wings, sparked a total team comeback.
United U14 girls lost 2-1 to Penticton in a fast and intense match Sunday.
It was 1-0 Pinnacles at the break with Jayden Strachan, Kelsey Falk and Brianna Bobbitt creating a lot of chances for Vernon.
Talia Quiring had an awesome defensive showing while shutting down Penticton’s speedy forwards. Elena Gaskell went low corner for Vernon’s goal after passes by midfielder Danica Ariano and forward Mariyha Blades. Keeper Hailey Yablonski recorded several tough stops for United.
United U13 girls shaded the Pinnacles 2-1 Sunday at Kings Park with only two subs.
Janelle Barnett, one of two keepers, came out in the second half to give the outside defenders a rest. It was scoreless at half with the United back line of Rane Smith, Marika Ternan, Keaira Korberg, Elizabeth Hirshkorn and Callie Bertram dynamic defensively.
Center mids Ava McLennan and Alexis Gauvin-Nice ran the whole field with little rest. Emma Lockwood opened the scoring 10 minutes into the second half after multiple runs up the wing.
McLennan made it 2-0 on a free kick from just outside the right corner of the 18, finishing top cheddar. Jasana Kunz impressed the coaches with her speedy runs up the flank and Lanaya Bandy created chances at striker pressuring the bigger Pinnacle defence.
Penticton responded with a late breakaway goal. Summer Crosby and Barnett shared the goalkeeping with authority.
Morning Star Staff
The Vernon Tolko MSE Precast Blues girls won a pair of Under 11 girls Rep soccer games Sunday in Kamloops, shutting down Shuswap 5-0 before grounding Penticton 7-0.
Coach Michael Sherwood gave the girls three goals to work on for the day: possession, creating lanes to the net for scoring chances and applying defensive pressure. The girls were very effective with their efforts.
Kaiden Sherwood was in Beast Mode by scoring four goals against Shuswap, a single going to Sophie Dennis. Jordyn Kisilevich battled hard for her first shutout of the season. Kiera Dahl had two helpers.
Dennis, with a deuce, Camryn Beacom, Paige Maleska, Sarah Claeys, Georgia Wenger and Mia Hyer handled the offence versus the Pinnacles. Sherwood had two helpers.
Mia Robinson had a stellar game on the backend, while Kenzie Miller, Kendall McKinnon and Sierra Lochhead also turned in fine showings.
The United Tolko U11 Protow Whites went hard while falling 2-1 to Kelowna United Red and bowing 8-2 to Kamloops United Orange.
Protow unleashed multiple stellar attempts in the first half, including an exceptional shot by Kaitlyn Budgen off a great goal kick by keeper Jorja Catt.
The defence of Jaya Chauhan, Lauryn Eddy, Emma Glasser and Katrina Winstanley worked extraordinarily hard to keep it tight. Protow got a brilliant goal by Brooklyn Kineshanko midway through the second half.
Catt, converted a pair of penalty kicks as Vernon lost to Kamloops with keeper Ava Proctor keeping things close in the first half. Budgen had a tremendous run up the side for a gorgeous shot on net by Kendra Grant.
In U11 play, the Vernon Tolko Blues drew 2-2 with the Kelowna Maroons before ambushing Shuswap 10-1.
Vernon and Kelowna met in the Lake Country Ice Breaker tournament final Easter weekend where the Blues claimed gold. Sunday’s re-match proved just as exciting.
Daxton Podollan stole the ball from the Kelowna defence to tie the score in the first half. Kelowna went ahead until Liam Leibel equalized on a long, 25-yard corker. Marcus Peterson and Jared Eddy anchored a solid back group.
Owen Challen pulled the hat trick versus Shuswap with Ben Straight and Declan Hardy each adding deuces. Singles came from Fraser Christensen, Liam Collins and Zach Loland.
Collins showed his talents as keeper by challenging hard off the line in shutting down the Shuswap offence in the first half.
The second half saw Adam Zimmerman put in a strong shift in net where he was able to start the play out wide to the midfield from his goal kicks.
The Tolko United U11 boys Whites had a mixed bag of results in Penticton.
The lads easily won their opener 4-2 against a plucky Kamloops team thanks in large part to great goalkeeping by Jonah Kiernan and a bold defence of Justin Ruscheinsky, Devin Bilodeau, Marcus Erho, Roan Reid and Alexander Kazimer.
The midfield of Colby MacManaman, Qui Parker, Hayden Murphy, Parker Munroe and Jonah Violini held possession and provided some wonderful through balls for Danny McLennann and Landon Janke with Janke (2), McLennan and Violini handling the offence.
In the afternoon game, Vernon gave up four second-half tallies in a 6-3 loss to Kelowna. McLennan (2) and MacManaman scored for the Whites.
