Valley U-18 soccer teams continue to roll

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Valley United U-18 boys and girls continued impressive runs in Nova Scotia Soccer League action over the Feb. 2-3 weekend.

The U-18 boys improved their league-leading record to 8-0-2 with a 2-0 win over City 17s Sunday, Feb. 3 in Kentville. It was the sixth straight win for the unbeaten Valley squad.

James Nunn, with his league-leading 12th goal of the season, and Greg Theriau had the Valley goals and Andrew MacRae earned his seventh shutout, also tops in the league.

Entering play this weekend, the U-18 boys had scored 20 goals in their 10 league games (Nunn had played in nine of 10) and had allowed opposing teams just three.

The U-18 girls improved to 7-0-1 with a 5-1 win over Scotia. Lauren Landry scored twice and Emma Young, Robyn McNeill and Kailey Bower had one goal each.

While the U-18 girls had scored more goals (29) than their male counterparts, they hadn’t been as stingy on defense, having allowed 10 tallies in their eight games.

The Valley U-16 girls, who didn’t play on the Feb. 2-3 weekend, also remained first in their division with an 11-1 record, a league-leading 27 goals scored and just nine allowed.

Meanwhile, the U-16 boys saw a six-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 4-1 loss to Halifax County. Halifax actually scored all of the game’s goals: four in Valley’s net and the other an ‘own goal’ to account for the lone Valley marker.

The loss dropped the boys into a fourth place tie with Cape Breton, both with 19 points. The Valley U-14 girls scored a 6-0 win over Highland to improve to 9-2-2 on the season, good for third in their division.

Emilie Lake struck for three goals to lead the Valley offense. Kinsella Noseworthy-Smith, Jessica Shaffelburg and Jillian Murphy added single goals while Mikayla Webster was perfect in goal to earn the shutout.

The Valley U-14 boys and Halifax City played to a scoreless draw, leaving Valley in second place in their division with an 8-2-2 record for 26 points, one point behind first-place Scotia. Valley’s Keiran Collins and Halifax’s Daniel Trim earned shutouts.

There are NSSL Tier 1 soccer games most Saturdays and Sundays through the winter at the indoor Valley Multisport Centre in Kentville. The NSSL schedule can be found at www.nssoccerleague.ca or on the Valley United website at www.valleyunited.ca.