LAC LA BICHE - It's the end of the season for both Portage College men's and women's futsal teams, as both teams failed to advance past the Alberta College Athletics Conference northern qualifiers hosted at Lac La Biche's Bold Center over the weekend.
The three-day tournament featured 12 teams — six men's and six women's — from six colleges in the northern division of the ACAC futsal league.
Futsal is five-aside indoor soccer without boards. Without having the ability to rebound off the boards, the game draws on more finesse play and ball control.
During the busy Bold Center weekend, each team played five games, with the top three men's and top three women's teams advancing to the ACAC futsal championships hosted by Keyano College over the March 10 weekend. The men's teams moving on are Keyano College, Lakeland College and NAIT. On the women's side the weekend of futsal saw the teams from Kings College, NAIT and Keyano moving onto the championships. The northern teams will play the three men's and women's teams from the southern ACAC division to decide the conference champions.
Both Portage teams finished their five-game weekend with no wins, but they gained a ton of experience, says Portage's Manager of Sports and Recreation Jim Knight.
"Our teams can take a lot away from the experience It was a learning experience and we can move on and be stronger next year," he said on Sunday night, explaining that recruiting players for the popular sport will begin right away. "I think we can increase our depth on both teams. Our teams play with a lot of heart and determination, and we can build on that."
Community effort
Despite the losses for the home teams, the home town won rave reviews, said Knight.
"We had a lot of comments from coaches about the facility and the community. They congratulated us on the strength of our teams and the friendly community," said Knight. "We had 150 college-level players in our community plus team staff, families and visitors. I think our community showed up very well."
Support inside the Bold Center was also a highlight of the weekend, said Knight, explaining that the three-day event that saw 30 games played in the fieldhouses was one of the largest college sporting events the community has ever hosted. "We couldn't have pulled it off without the volunteers and staff."
Portage Futsal Results
Women
Portage:1 The King's University: 3
Portage: 0 Lakeland College: 8
Portage: 0 Keyano College: 9
Portage 2 Northwest Polytechnic: 6
Portage 1 NAIT: 2
Men
Portage: 1 The King's University: 5
Portage: 0 Keyano College: 11
Portage: 2 Lakeland College: 7
Portage: 4 Northwest Polytechnic: 8
Portage: 0 NAIT 10