The Centennial Centre Field House was buzzing Sunday as three Bonnyville soccer squads took home medals at the Lakeland Cup tournament.
In U12, Bonnyville 1, coached by Rick Dokter, took home the gold medal, which also gives his team a berth in provincials.
Bonnyville 1 came into the tournament undefeated in the regular season, and continued that streak, winning all four games at the Lakeland Cup. “We knew we could do well if we kept working hard,” said Dokter.
The team will now head to provincials Mar. 18-20, and Dokter said the competition will be tough. “It's a whole different kettle of fish. But we've got a few practices left and we're going to have to work on some things, like our passing in front of the net and ball control.”
The other local U12 team, Bonnyville 2, coached by Dave Cowan, came into the tournament ranked second and captured the silver medal.
Bonnyville's U16 team had a strong tournament as well, winning the bronze medal game.
The Lakeland Cup is a tournament held to determine which teams advance to provincials from the U12, U14, U16 and U18 divisions.
The first place team at the Lakeland Cup in each age category will move on to provincials.
Bonnyville 1 will be the town's representative at the U12 level, while the Bonnyville Bullets, who won the Lakeland Cup last weekend in Lac La Biche, will be the local representative for the U14 level.
Following the tournament, head coach of the U16 squad, Mike Flood, presented his team with the bronze medals.
He said his team is very young this year and the tournament was a great experience for them. “These kids are just happy as can be. I am very proud of them.”
Winning the tournament on the U16 side was Vegreville, with Lac La Biche taking silver.
And on the U12 side Lac La Biche brought home bronze.
President of the Bonnyville Soccer Association Kristy L'Hirondelle said the Lakeland Cup tournament went very well.
“What a wonderful weekend of soccer,” she said. “I am very proud of how hard our team has worked to get to this point.”
