United teams off to Provincials in Moose Jaw
Six Swift Current United Soccer Club teams will be in Moose Jaw this weekend for the Saskatchewan Soccer Association Provincial Finals.
The Under-18 boys will play in a three-team tournament against teams from Yorkton and Regina beginning Saturday and concluding Monday.
The Under-16 Boys will compete in a seven-team tournament beginning Saturday and concluding with the championship final on Tuesday.
They will face challengers from Lloydminster, Humboldt, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Regina, and Melfort.
The Under-16 Girls will take part in a five-team tournament beginning Saturday and concluding Tuesday when they face competition from Saskatoon, Battlefords, and Lloydminster.
“All things considered, I think we stand a pretty good chance to do well there,” said U16 head coach Dale Perry.
“The goal from the beginning of the season has been to win gold and we haven’t altered that position at all. As long as we play the way we are capable of playing, I think we have a good opportunity to achieve that result.”
The U16 team recently won an under-18 tournament in Saskatoon and also played a tournament in Medicine Hat, but they are untested against any of the teams they will face at Provincials.
“Everybody has to maintain their roles and responsibilities. Sometimes we get a bit lazy and we wait for somebody else to do it or we start to react instead of making the other team react to what we are doing. If we go out there and play completely to what we are capable of doing we should be alright,” said Perry.
The United Under-14 Boys will compete in a massive 12-team tournament from Friday until Tuesday against teams from Lloydminster, Regina, Melfort, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, North Battleford, and Humboldt.
The Under-14 United Elite Girls will take part in the six-team 11-aside tournament against competi- tion from Saskatoon and Weyburn.
United Elite had their final pre-tournament test on Sunday when they hosted the Medicine Hat Rattlers. Swift Current dropped the opener 2-0 and then battled their way to a 3-3 draw in the second match.
“They played very strong,” said head coach John Barber.
“I think we had a good portion of possession of the ball but we just struggled a little bit to put it in the net.”
Barber said that he believes his team will be in medal contention at Provincials. They placed second at their home tournament and also placed second at the Harder Avalon Tournament in Saskatoon this season.
“We have played a lot of those teams and we figure that we land among them. I think we are very strong amongst those teams. It is just going come down to the girls bringing it to those games and make sure that we play as a team.”
He was looking forward to a few last practices to get the team prepared.
“We will see if we can get the girls to work as a team. We will see if we can work on their accuracy to put the ball in the net. We always get lots of shots around the net, we just struggle with being calm enough to put the ball in the net.”
The Under-14 United Dynamo Girls will take part in the eight-aside tournament against squads from Humboldt, Yorkton, Lloydminster, and Regina.
“This year we had enough girls that we made two teams. We have 11v11 and 8v8 teams in U14 girls,” explained Barber.
“The 8v8 team is actually looking pretty strong. We have played them against the 11v11 team in 11v11 and they are really good players and I think they will do quite well against 8v8 teams.”
Barber said the team will probably play a 3-2-2 alignment, although that formation could change throughout the tournament. They have not been able to play 8v8 yet this season but were hoping to get in a few exhibition games against the boys this week. The Dynamos did compete at the Grevers Tournament in Saskatoon where they won bronze out of nine teams with three draws and a win, including draws against the gold and silver medal winning teams.