Vernon United moved into first place by rolling two Thompson Okanagan Under 14 Girls Rep Soccer League wins last weekend.
Michelle Hughes’ crew iced the Revelstoke Avalanche 4-0 Sunday at Marshall Field #5 after stopping Kelowna United 4-1 Saturday at MacDonald Park.
Cayleigh Graham (2), Alex Drury and Jaime Grages handled the Vernon offence against Revelstoke with Marina Dempsy earning the clean sheet.
Graham again struck twice as United toppled Kelowna. Abbey Hughes and Sheyna Camalush supplied singles.
In U16 girls action, Vernon and Kelowna battled to a 2-2 draw Sunday at Marshall #5.
Hannah Love and Teigan Moore provided goals for United, who got awesome goalkeeping from Lee Richardson.
Jai Sidhu scored twice as United shut down host Penticton Pinnacles 4-0 in U13 girls play Sunday at Kings Park.
Mason Christenson also found the net as United improved to 3-1-1.
Coaches Al Gee and Ley Christensen singled out Paige Latta, who was up and down the right side all afternoon with fantastic pace and at least half-a-dozen quality crosses while scoring once.
United U14s improved to 3-0-1 by tripping up the host Kamloops Blaze Blue 4-1 Sunday. Lydia Wood dropped in a gorgeous corner which Alexa Tymkiw buried for United’s opening strike.
Minutes later, Wood sent a ball towards the net where Maddy Laranjo nodded it in for a 2-0 lead. The Blaze answered back (first goal allowed by Vernon this season) before Laranjo made a mad dash for the net and outwaited the keeper before sneaking one over the line.
Maya Bandy delivered a nice tip count off a place kick by Tymkiw in the second half, to complete the scoring.
United U11 #2 girls fell 3-1 to Kelowna United Red and 3-0 to Kelowna Black.
In Game 1, Vernon enjoyed excellent scoring opportunities by Megan Sherwood and Paige Noakes, but Kelowna went up 3-0 before the break.
Vernon keeper Danica Ariano saved some difficult strikes in the second half before Makena Kersey skillfully fed Noakes a sweet pass for a well-deserved goal.
In the afternoon game, Kelowna scored in the first minute. Undaunted, Vernon keeper Emilia Durfeld scrambled, saving several dangerous scoring attempts.
Vernon defenders Sydney Grevatt, Carly Southham and Kelsey Carriere produced some of their best play. Grace Atkins, Megan Sherwood and Olivia Sawka generated some solid drive up field.
United U11 #1 girls team lost 1-0 to Kelowna Black Sunday at Marshall.
“The girls played their best game of the year,” said United coach Mike Bertram. “We had 80 per cent ball control and created many scoring opportunities, we just couldn’t manage to bury one.”
United U15 boys drew 2-2 with Revelstoke Sunday at Marshall #5 after shocking previously unbeaten Kelowna 2-1 Thursday night in Lake Country.
Brandon Melbourne, with a superb 30-yarder which found the top corner, gave Vernon the lead Sunday. Liam Ross put United (3-2-2) up early in the second half.
Against Kelowna, Michael Williamson split the defenders six minutes in to give United the lead. Kelowna tied it up late in the half, but Zak Kronbauer finished at 25 minutes. Cole Shoemaker was sharp in goal.
The U17 boys had no subs and lost 3-0 to the host Kamloops U18 Blaze in the scorching heat. United received bold play from forwards Wade Buller, Mike Bennett and Nathan Gatenby.
In U14 boys action, Vernon United and Kamloops Blaze Blue battled to a thrilling 4-4 tie Sunday at MacArthur Island Sports Complex.
Malcolm Wiens scored five minutes in by toe poking the keeper on the right side, after receiving the ball from Gavin Mason.
It took only two minutes for Kamloops to respond, and they added a second from a free kick to take the lead. Wiens struck again in the 25th minute after being set up nicely by Shey Townley. Late in the half, Vernon surrendered another goal off a long shot that eluded Connor Holliday.
Vernon came out strong in the second half on a bar-down blast from Elias Jensen. Morgan Nichols, who took over in net for Vernon at halftime, made a great penalty save, but the Blaze converted three minutes later.
Wyatt Carter and Sam Eggert were strong on defence and Charis Ondrik motivated the midfield as Vernon pushed for the equalizer.
At 15 minutes from time, a Wiens’ corner was converted as Ondrik knocked it off a Kamloops defender into the net.
“Strong games were had by Connor Johnson on defence and Shey Towney and Cameron MacKenzie in midfield,” said United coach Rolf Hirschkorn.
United U13 boys got a hat trick from speedy Ben Purvis and inspired, intelligent play from everybody in a 6-1 grounding of host Shuswap Sunday at Blackburn Park.
Roadrunner Mica Burns was dynamic working the wing effectively to feed the middle. He had three assists as United went to 2-0-2. Perez Vermuelen and Micah Martens connected on corkers, while Kazuki Comley, who set up Martens, dropped in a beautiful lob shot for the final goal. Chris Atkins was relentless in challenging for every ball, while Kody Kongsdorf, Joe Eggert and Trent Graham shut down the Shuswap attack.
The Vernon United U11 #1 boys split a pair of games, blanking host Kelowna Red 3-0 Sunday morning on goals from Zach Manthorne, Saajan Klair and Zachary Smith, off a beautiful give-and-go with Luc Jones.
Kevin Morgan was stellar while recording the shutout, and Jack Cotter and Liam Reid powered a strong defence.
The afternoon game gave the boys their first loss of the year, bowing 4-2 to an improved Kelowna Black squad.
Falling behind 1-0 in the first minute, goals from Smith and Isaiah Ondrik pushed Vernon ahead, but consistent attacks from Kelowna proved too much for the boys.
United U11 #2 ambushed Shuswap 7-2 and clipped Kelowna White 4-3.
Matt Reich was fantastic on the wing versus Shuswap. Maksim Chirkoff was speedy on the left side and was magical with his left-foot deliveries. Goal scorers were Liam Glennon, with a hat trick, Reich, Aiden Skinner and Adam Bsat.
In Game 2 under a hot afternoon sun, Logan Quibell was solid in net to keep the game close and Gavin Medema and Ben Morgan were great defensively.
Ahead 2-0 at the half with goals by Medema and Josh McKeown, Kelowna fought back to even the game. The teams then traded goals with Tyson Fairthweather equalizing for Vernon. McKeown bagged the winner with only minutes left.
