From the pitch comes word the Upper Vancouver Island (UVI) Storm mined silver at the A-Cup provincial soccer tournament held in Langley last weekend.
The side, made up of players from Courtenay, Nanaimo, and three Oceanside players — Bronwyn Kirk, Sophie Palmer and Olivia Friesen — are now regarded as the second best U16 girls team in B.C.
The Storm opened the four-team tourney last Thursday when they played Prince George to a 2-2 tie with goals from Takia King and Sophie Palmer.
According to Stuart Kirk, the Storm were “dealt a huge blow in this game losing midfielder Rachael Baird to an injury, she was not able to return for any other matches.”
On Friday the Storm battle Surrey to a 1-1 draw with a beautiful goal from Katelyn Horsley.
Back at it Saturday in the semi-final, the Storm dug deep and beat Coquitlam 4-3 with goals from Palmer, King, Olivia Friesen and Jessie McColm
In Sunday’s final the Storm lost 3-0 to Surrey “in a well contested battle.”
Tournament standouts for the Storm included Bronwyn Kirk who played every minute of every match and goal keeper Maddy Whiting with some great saves over the four days to keep the team in the running.
The team also won the Fair Play award.
Coaches Geoff Whiting and Dave Reid “are extremely proud of the team’s accomplishments this season,” as they won the Island Cup, came second in the Coastal Cup and second in the A-Cup provincial tournament.
