Team Royal LePage Navy capped an undefeated season by winning all three U13 boys games in the North Okanagan Youth Soccer Association Vernon Cup.
Navy, coached by Todd Wenger and Jeff Hoyland, brushed off the second-place Mangos 3-1 in the scorching sun Saturday afternoon at Marshall Field.
Central fullback Jude Kronbauer, who was the McDonald’s Man of the Match, drilled a penalty shot top shelf to give the Mangos the halftime lead.
Navy countered with the equalizer by Steven Benischek 10 minutes into the second half and then got the winner when Xander Sladen’s cross ricochetted off a defender past keeper Nick Mitchell. Sladen added insurance past relief keeper Garrett Birch with a few minutes remaining.
Rylan Brown (2), Sladen (1+2), Sam Joly and Seb Wenger handled the offence in a 5-1 win over the shortstaffed White Pandas. The teams played five-on-five.
The Red Menace gave Navy a scare Sunday afternoon before falling 6-2.
Brandon Chai unleashed four snipes in a row, while Declan Stevenson and Wenger supplied singles.
Cameron Bevan and Brett Hansen countered for the Reds, who struck the crossbar and just missed by inches on chances to tie it 2-2 in the first half.
The Mangos, who struck the silver medal, blanked the Pandas 3-0 Sunday afternoon with Mitchell and Joe Bateman sharing the shutout.
Mitchell netted the winner on a marvellous solo run early in the first half, while Cooper McGeough converted after a feed from Mitchell. Bateman fired the goal of the day on a late 50-yard run through a series of defenders. Bateman and Mitchell shared the Tim Hortons Man of the Match.
Brendan Yakura was stellar in the Pandas’ net the first half.
The Mangos got two gorgeous goals from Red Robin Man of the Match Birch and a single from McGeough in a 3-0 Sunday victory over the Red Menace. Birch’s sweetest snipe was a first-time volley off a McGeough corner. Birch and Mitchell split the clean sheet.
The bronze-medalist Menace surprised the Pandas 3-1 Saturday for their first win of the season. Bevan (2) and Gavin Elliott handled the Menace scoring. Ty Cheyne and Blake Leupin shared the win.
Baron Insurance, coached by Dawn Lemiski, went 2-1-1 to take silver behind Art Harrigan’s Instant Replay Sports in U18 boys.
Baron lost 2-1 to Instant Replay with all goals coming on penalty kicks, Saturday at Marshall. Stan Park got Baron the early lead.
On Friday at MacDonald Park, Baron Insurance erased a 3-1 deficit to gain a 3-3 tie with Nixon Wenger. Layne Greene, Scott Botwood and Karanmeet Khatra handling the offence.
Baron finished the Cup with a pair of victories Sunday. Sean Lemiski and Park scored and Justin Colley was in goal in a 2-0 win over bronze-medalist Kidston & Co. Greene pocketed four snipes as Baron iced H&L Glass 5-0 with Liam Seminiuk adding a single in support of Colley.
In the U14/15 boys division, Kevin Godfrey’s Subway Red garnered gold in front of Mike McGrath’s Orange Lads.
The Lads were missing both of their regular keepers so Connor Poulin stepped up in a 2-2 opening draw with Navy. Liam McGrath, assisted by Garrett Adams, and Reid Botwood, off a penalty kick ,assisted by Jeremy Purvis, scored. Dynamic defence came from Chase Petruk, Caleb Haberstock, Jacob Bevan, Gaman Nijjar and Sean Reid.
The Lads grounded Team Gold 4-1 with two goals each from Riley Bos and McGrath. Jeremy Purvis, Brennan Seltzer, Aidan Webber Concannon, Eli Garlick earned assists.
On Sunday morning, the Lads bowed 3-0 to Team Red before taking silver with a 2-0 victory over Team White.
Purvis fired a free kick and Brennan Seltzer picked up the rebound and lobbed it over superb White keeper Adam Roemer for the first goal. Bos netted insurance. Weston Vanderveen and Bos each shared the shutout.
Navy took bronze at 2-1-1, losing the silver to Orange by one goal. Janet Aspenlieder’s crew tied Orange 1-1 in their opener with Bryn Bedard connecting on a penalty shot, and then blanked Team White 1-0 with Roemer bold in goal.
The eventual golden Team Red overpowered Navy 5-1 before Navy earned a thrilling 3-2 (4-3) shootout win over Team Gold Sunday afternoon.
Bedard finished from outside the 18 on a beautiful crack top cheese, while Liam Hennig clicked on a breakaway later in the second half.
Keeper Lachlan Byrnes was firm in the shootout, where Navy got snipes from Bedard, Hennig, Danny Aspenlieder and Taylor Forster.
The Nixon Wenger Navy Seals entered the playoffs with high hopes in U18 girls action. After consecutive ties in their first two tilts, the Seals battled shortstaffed Subway Friday night. The Seals struck first when Carlee Meausette and Melanie Wakutz worked a nice give-and-go that led to Wakutz burying a hard low shot.
Subway, who took the bronze medal, pressed hard after the break and were rewarded with a well-deserved goal. Both teams had chances late to win it, but settled for a 1-1 draw.
Brianna Thalheimer and Ashley Stragier were solid on defence for the Seals. Kate Curtis and Aliyah Akkurt shared the goalkeeping duties.
Nixon Wenger had a short roster for the final two games and they fell 5-1 to eventual gold-medalist H&L Glass (coach Lesley Williams) despite strong goalkeeping from Megan Weatherill and Nicole Skidmore. Wakutz scored for the Seals.
The weary Seals team lost 5-1 to silver medalist H&R Block on Sunday with Kendall Tomiak, Skidmore, Wakutz and Weatherill all taking a turn in net, and Karley Geefs supplying the Seals’ goal on a nice shot from distance.
The Navy Seals got great defence all weekend from Thalheimer, Stragier and Hillary Cooper, while Ashley Eso, Nikala DeBalinhard and Wakutz ran miles in midfield.
Navy (coach Courtenay Pitcher) won the U12 boys title, while White took the U12 girls crown (coach Andy Overend). White topped the U13 girls table (coach Dave Bootsma) and Orange (Dawn Ponich) claimed U14/15 girls.
