Danielle Jackson volleyed the winner as Vernon United Under 17 girls brushed back the Penticton Pinnacles 2-1 in Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League play Sunday at Marshall Field #2.
Late in the second half, striker Emma Tassie delivered a ball to Emma Byskov in the corner, who played a beautiful cross to an awaiting Jackson.
United opened the scoring in the first half when centre midfielder Tessa Coulthard placed a nice through ball to send Tassie on a breakaway where she beat the challenging Pinnacle keeper.
The aggressive play of Megan Prentice and Brianna Thalheimer held Penticton to a single goal in the second half. United got great defending by fullback Kendal Tomiak and fantastic goalkeeping by Chelsea Weisgerber.
U14 crew topples Pinnacles
In U14 girls play in Penticton, Vernon United dominated the Pinnacles 6-0 Sunday.
Vernon came out strong right, hemming the Pinnacles in their zone. Emilee Kronbauer opened the scoring on a perfectly placed shot from a bad angle. Shortly after, Reyhanna Akkurt made it 2-0 with a high blast past the Penticton keeper. Brianne Robertson completed the first-half attack by converting a text book corner kick from Alexa Tymkiw.
United kept the pressure on in the second half, with Cayleigh Graham scoring on a great individual effort. Akkurt, with her second goal of the game, and Graham rounded out the offence.
Goalkeepers Jordynne Tomiak and Victoria Grahn had an easy day in sharing the shutout. Lydia Wood had an extremely solid game, and Maddie Laranjo displayed great ball control.
“Our defence was very stingy and the midfield controlled the play with the strikers getting a lot of shots from constant pressure and smart decisions,” said coach Brett Bandy.
McLennan collects hat trick
In U11 girls play, Vernon #1 recovered from a 5-0 loss to Kelowna #1 by earning a 3-3 draw against Kamloops White.
Defenders Carly Southam and Hailey Yablonski, midfielder Grace Atkins and forward Jayden Strachan all had solid games in the loss.
Olivia McLennan buried all three Vernon goals against Kamloops. Keira Corriera and Emily Thompson shared net duties.
Vernon #2 used goals from Megan Sherwood, Kelsey Carriere, Kiara Haydamack and Paige Noakes to stop Kamloops 5-0. Defenders Juanita-Jean Big Plume-Bonneau and Talia Quiring held the back line.
Carriere, Laryssa Fletcher, Lynley Gordon-Mason and Makena Kersey provided the offence in a 6-1 win against Shuwap later Sunday.
U12 boys bow in weekend action
In TOYSL U12 boys competition, United #1 dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions, falling to Kamloops White and Nelson.
Kamloops scored at the six-minute mark, but United responded early in the second half on a nice solo effort by Perez Vermeulen, who dribbled up field and fired a easy shot past Kamloops’ keeper.
Netminder Micah Martens helped Vernon withstand some Kamloops pressure with some timely saves, but the Whites eventually fired the winner off a corner short followed by a scramble in front of the net.
Dexter Weiten unleashed a fabulous shot from right side, but was stopped by Kamloops keeper. Defender Alex Ogunbiyi was United’s Man of the Match. Supporting him were Cody Kongsdorf and Zac Agar.
United fell behind early against Nelson as well, and they had a chance to equalize when Vermeulen was taken down by two Nelson players, but Drayden Dougan sent the resulting penalty off the crossbar.
Vernon generated many scoring chances in the second half, with Weiten, Vermeulen and Joe Eggert, named Man of the Match, all having cracks at net. However, Nelson made good on a penalty kick to go up 2-0.
Vermeulen netted Vernon’s goal on a penalty shot.
United #2 bowed in both their weekend games, falling 5-1 to Kamloops White and 3-2 to Kamloops Blue Sunday in Penticton.
United, coached by Roy Cooper, fell behind when Kamloops converted on a scramble after a corner.
Vernon pulled even five minutes later when Braeden Cooper’s corner found Ben Purvis in scoring position. A United own-goal made it 2-1 Kamloops at the half.
Kamloops connected three more times in the second half. Dylan Huber and Noah Schneider shared netminding duties for Vernon.
After dominating the first half against Kamloops Blue, United were rewarded in the second half when Brendan Yakura and Mika Burns clicked on a nice passing play to set up Cooper for the opening goal.
Kamloops got fired up and replied with three unanswered goals, two of them coming off of Vernon giveaways.
With time running out, Purvis set up Cooper for his second of the game. Schneider backstopped United with a solid effort in net.
The United U13 squad bowed 7-2 to Penticton.
Tiege Doughty, assisted by Morgan Nichols, and Malcom Wiens, assisted by Matthew Jackson, took care of the Vernon scoring.
Vernon strikes success in Kamloops
The United U11 #2 boys had a successful weekend in Kamloops, earning a tie and win.
In game one, United #2 battled Kelowna #3 to a scoreless draw. Kelowna controlled play in the opening half, but couldn’t penetrate the defensive wall set up by Graham Tassie, Lucas Wood (Man of the Match), Shaun Boucher and netminder Logan Quibell.
United were offensive in the second half and had possession advantage, but failed to score.
Vernon cranked up the offence to earn a 6-0 win over Kelowna #2 in their second game.
Saajan Klair played a nice through ball to Zack Smith who drove it home to open the scoring five minutes in. In the second half, Liam Glennon took a pass from Smith, dribbled by two defenders and buried a rocket in the lower corner. Moments later, Glennon (Man of the Match) added his second of the game after a great pass from Jaiden Gordon-Mason.
The scoring parade continued with Lucas Wood sailing a 30-yard penalty shot past the Kelowna keeper, and Klair driving a ball short side. Smith rounded out the scoring by intercepting a goal kick and slipping it in the net.
The Vernon United U11 #1 squad, coached by Rick Ogasawara, won a pair of weekend games at MacArthur Island in Kamloops.
In their opening 5-2 win against host Kamloops, Vernon scored on an early break with Cole Johnson setting up Isaiah Ondrik for the first of his two-goal effort. Vernon added to their lead before the half with a pretty three-way passing play started by Tane Purcell to Ondrik and deposited in the net by Hunter Housego.
Ty Ogasawara had an excellent first half with his tenacious play, and Joseph Neufeld displayed his speed and persistence.
United #1 came out hard in the second half with some excellent ball pursuit by Noah Podolski, resulting in a turnover. Ondrik picked up the loose ball and set up Housego for his second. Ondrik then picked off an errant goal kick and went in alone beating the defender and the goalie.
Kamloops responded with two quick goals to cut the lead in half. With the game turning in Kamloops’ favour, goalie Tane Purcell made a diving save that seemed to lift the Vernon squad. Joey Rodak set up Podolski for Vernon’s final tally.
Excellent defensive efforts came from Rodak, Gerritt Van Soest and Tanner Imbeau.
In their second game, Johnson supplied a hat trick as United #1 banked a 5-1 win over Shuswap.
Johnson scored early with a penalty shot, and again on a well-placed breakaway pass from Ondrik to secure a 2-0 lead.
Ondrik secured his second assist on Podolski’s rainbow goal from outside the 18-yard box, then scored one of his own by banking a corner kick off a Shuswap defender.
Up 4-1 at the half, Joseph Neufeld started the Vernon attack on their fifth goal with a nice pass in close quarters to Ogasawara who fed Johnson for the hat trick.
Vernon’s defence and midfield dominated the day, leading the pressure attack and not allowing Shuswap to get on track. Tanner Wiebe, Ogasawara, Purcell and Van Soest all had excellent games on Vernon’s back end.
