On Oct. 18, 23 students left the Bella Coola valley for a soccer zones tournament and exhibition games with the Quesnel Rep team. The senior team placed fourth, just missing the medals and had a very strong performance despite playing teams who have mostly grade 11/12 players. Ezra Mecham deserves a special mention for his outstanding defensive play, leadership and hard work ethic.
The juniors once again won the Northern B.C junior soccer championships and displayed amazing teamwork and sportsmanship winning 4-0, 4-0 and 4-1 against Northside Christian, a private school. Every game we had a different captain, since the team is all about “Together Everyone Achieves More.”
Once we finished our games in P.G, the team left for Quesnel and had an opportunity to have a meet and greet with players and coaches from the Quesnel Youth Soccer Association. We had pizza and played a great scrimmage game in their beautiful indoor soccer facility.
The next day our juniors surprised the rep team by being tied 3-3 at half time, however our tired legs caught up to us, and the team from Quesnel won 8-4. Our seniors gave it their best and came up short as well, however their coach recognized the potential and talent in our players (scouting a few for the rep team). We have been invited in April to an invitational indoor soccer tournament to further grow and develop both as players and coaches.
Overall, we are very proud of both team’s leadership and efforts. Kelly Nestegard is the coach of the SAMS seniors and Alex Boileau is the coach of SAMS juniors. A special thank you goes out to all of the support we received from SD49, SAMS PAC, Jeremy Baillie, Kristina Knudsen, parents, the bus garage, Leonard Kozak, Chaperone Tanya Durocher and the Quesnel Youth Soccer Association, Sonni Bassi and the Quesnel Rep teams as well as Andrew Christensen for his excellent help with our team this season.
On Friday, November 17th, our soccer team will be having a Loonie Toonie Raffle at the Moose Hall from 4pm-11pm, please come out and support our team; there are some great items!! All proceeds will go to the SAMS soccer team. A special thank you to Melinda Mack for all her help with the auction.
The SAMS junior and senior team players are: Ezra Mecham, Breagha Koroluk, Rhys Nygaard, Tyler Doiron, James Ratcliff, Kai Gunderson,Trinity Mack, Chase Younker, Jarome White, Silas Chapman-Tallio, Nick George, Morgan Nelson, Hadyn Nygaard, Finn Carlson, Jaymen Schieck, Kyle Doiron, Katie Koroluk, Lu Bittner, Shayleen Mack, Ronald Wheatley, Jasper Durocher, Bryn Howard, Leif Nestegard.
