The St. Paul Soccer Association played host to the U12 and U16 Lakeland Cup this weekend, with 33 teams taking to the pitch for a spot in provincials.
While none of St. Paul’s youth soccer teams managed to claim gold at the Lakeland Cup, the U12 boys team battled its way to a silver medal Sunday afternoon.
The U12 boys opened the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Cold Lake and a 4-0 win over Wainwright to earn a berth into the semifinals.
After defeating Lac La Biche in the semifinals, the U12 boys advanced to the gold medal game where they fell 4-0 to Vermilion.
St. Paul’s U16 girls team just missed out on medal contention, but put up victories over Viking and Lac La Biche to earn fifth place at the tournament.
While the U12 girls teams also fell short of medal contention, the St. Paul Blitz managed an eighth place finish while the Smurfettes settled for 10th.
The U14 and U18 Lakeland Cup was also held in Vermilion on June 15-16, and both girls teams managed silver medal finishes, while the boys teams settled for fourth.
The U18 girls fell just short of gold in the round-robin format, but coach Kim Malech said she was pleased by the efforts of her team.
“The girls played very well all weekend, we were so proud of them. We had a bit of a struggle the first game, losing 2-0 against Cold Lake,” Malech said in an email to the Journal, adding that the team followed it up with an 8-2 win over Viking, a 5-0 victory against Lac La Biche and an 8-0 victory against Bonnyville.
“It was a round robin format so there was unfortunately no final game where the girls would get another shot at playing Cold Lake so with points and games we got the silver medal. The girls had a great year, they improved every game and they made me very proud to be one of their coaches.”
St. Paul’s U14 girls Nightmares opened the tournament by winning both of its group stage games, 5-0 against Cold Lake and 9-0 over Viking.
The strong group stage performance slotted the Nightmares into the semifinals against Vermilion, where the team picked up a hard fought 2-0 victory to earn a spot in the final.
“That win brought us into the gold medal game against a very strong Bonnyville team that afternoon,” coaches Al Albert and Amy Thomson said in an email to the Journal. “The girls powered through and never gave up. We had an early chance on net and had we scored it would have been a great battle.”
