Over 60 people laced up their soccer boots on Feb. 16-17 at the Lake City Secondary School Columeetza Campus for an action-packed soccer extravaganza hosted by the Williams Lake Ladies Soccer Association (WLLSA).
Five local co-ed teams of all ages played a crowd-pleasing level of soccer in the Ninth Annual Co-ed Sweetheart Indoor Soccer Tournament.
“The sportsmanship, the calibre of the players and the support of the community were very impressive,” said Valerie Holweck, WLLSA president.
“At one point, the WLLSA executive board were unsure that we would have the resources to organize the tournament, but the soccer community really stepped up and made it happen.”
The tournament kicked off with round robin games on Saturday with each team playing four games.
The last two games of the day started the playoffs.
Sunday saw the semifinal games start with a nail-biting game between the Black Team and Celtic Cupids (Tie-Dye Team) that resulted in six rounds of shoot-outs with the Black Team ultimately moving onto the next round.
The second semifinal featured Raj and Friends (Yellow Team) winning over All the Single Agents (White Team) and would meet The Blues in the final; while All the Single Agents and the Black Team played for third.
The Black Team finished in third after one round of overtime and a stellar goal.
The final was an evenly matched game, with some excellent plays and saves from the goalies. The Blues were ahead by two goals at the end of full time, with a final score of 2-1.
First Place: The Blues
Second Place: Raj and Friends
Third Place: The Black Team
Fourth Place: All the Single Agents
Fifth Place: Celtic Cupids
A social at Boston Pizza brought all five teams together for free pitcher of beer and an appetizer plate on Saturday night.
Holweck said a big thank you is in order to all the local businesses that donated prizes to the teams: South Broadway Liquor Store, Taylor Made Cakes and Sweets, Inland Kenworth, Red Tomato Pies, Britny Sukert (care of One Therapy Rehabilitation), Sport Chek, Caribou Ski Source for Sports, Concrete Fitness and the Bean Counter.
“We hope to see everyone again next year,” Holweck said.
For more photos from the tournament visit the Tribune website at www.wltribune.com.
