Three medals for Valley teams at U-18 soccer provincials

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Valley teams won three medals at the Soccer Nova Scotia provincial U-18 championships Aug. 23-24, including the Valley United U-18 girls, who captured the provincial Tier 1 title on their home turf in Kentville.

East Kings (Kenny) took silver medals at the U-18 Tier 2 boys’ provincials at Milford, Hants Co., and Valley United won bronze at the U-18 boys’ Tier 1 provincials in Halifax.

In Kentville, the Valley United U-18 girls, who had lost just once all season in league play, opened with a 2-0 semi-final win over Halifax City. Lauren Landry had both Valley goals and Jillian Cochrane earned the shutout.

The win advanced the host club to the provincial final against Halifax Dunbrack, which had advanced with a 2-1 win over Scotia.

In the final, Acacia Dunphy, Taylor Wade and Emily Kehoe scored the goals in a 3-1 Valley win, with Wade scoring the eventual winner off a corner kick. The U-18 girls finished the season with a record of 17 wins, three ties and one loss.

U-18 boys nab Tier 1 bronze

At the U-18 boys’ Tier 1 provincials in Halifax, Valley United opened with a 5-1 loss to Halifax County United. James Nunn had the lone Valley goal.

Relegated to the bronze medal match, Valley rebounded with a 3-0 shutout of Halifax City to claim bronze, with Nunn scoring all three goals and Andrew MacRae earning the shutout.

At the U-18 boys’ Tier 2 provincials in East Hants, East Kings (Kenny), the Valley champions, was in a pool with Sackville United, Halifax City No. 1 and HB Thunder.

East Kings went 2-0-1 in the round robin portion of the tournament, blanking HB Thunder 1-0, playing to a 2-2 tie with Sackville and shutting out Halifax City 2-0.

The result advanced East Kings directly to the gold medal match against Cole Harbour, which had gone undefeated at 3-0 in the tournament to that point. Cole Harbour won a close 1-0 decision to take gold and relegate East Kings to the silver medal.

Digby represented the Valley District at the U-18 girls’ Tier 2 provincials in Dartmouth. They finished the round robin with a loss and two draws and did not advance to the medal round. New Ross played in the tournament also, finishing with an 0-3 record.

The Senior B Women’s provincials were hosted by the Valley District at Lockhart and Ryan Park in New Minas, with Windsor and New Minas carrying the Valley colours.

New Minas finished round robin play with a 1-1-1 record, playing to a 3-3 draw with Dartmouth Strikers, blanking Antigonish Celtics 4-0, then dropping a 4-1 decision to Halifax County.Windsor finished the tournament with an 0-3 record, losing to Lady Chester Merchants, Dunbrack Rigbound and Scotia Lions, all by 3-0 scores.

Neither Valley squad advanced to the medal round, which saw Halifax County win gold, Dunbrack silver and Dartmouth bronze.



Windsor Senior Men settle for silver

Windsor Spitfire Arms and Berwick Rangers represented the Valley District at the Senior B Men’s provincials played in Bridgewater.

Windsor went through the round robin undefeated at 3-0, topping Chester 2-1, Dunbrack 1-0 and Coconut Grove 2-0 to advance directly to the gold medal match, which Windsor lost 2-1 to Halifax Celtic.

Berwick lost 3-2 to HB Thunder and 3-0 to Halifax Celtic, then won their final round robin match 3-1 over Dock Rovers to finish 1-2 and out of medal contention.

The U-12 and U-14 Tier 2A boys’ and girls’ and U-16 Tier 2 boys’ and girls’ provincials were scheduled for this weekend, with the Valley District hosting the U-12 Tier 2A girls’ in New Minas and the U-16 Tier 2 girls’ in Kentville.

The remainder of the youth soccer provincials (U-12 and U-14 Tier 2B boys’ and girls’ and U-14 and U-16 Tier 1 boys’ and girls’) will be played Sept. 6-7, with Valley/Kings West hosting the U-14 Tier 2B boys’ tournament in Kentville.