Valley U-12 A girls win bronze at provincials

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The host Valley United squad earned bronze medals at the Soccer Nova Scotia U-12 girls’ Tier 2A soccer provincials Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 in New Minas.

This was the first appearance for Valley United at provincials at this level because this is the first year U-12 A teams have competed under the Valley United banner.

The Valley girls competed in a pool with Halifax County, Scotia and Cole Harbour and finished the round robin portion of the tournament with two wins and a draw.

Valley opened with a scoreless draw with Halifax County. Grayson Parker earned the shutout in the Valley goal.

In their second game, Valley topped Scotia 4-1 with Miranda Johnston scoring two goals and Serena Dolan and Jessica Shaffelburg one goal each.

In their final round robin game, Valley blanked Cole Harbour 4-0. Shaffelburg scored twice and Johnston and Dolan rounding out the scoring with one goal each.

Their 2-0-1 record advanced Valley to a spot in the crossovers, where they dropped a 2-0 decision to Bedford and were relegated to the bronze medal match.

In that contest, Valley edged Dartmouth 1-0 with Julia Collins scoring the game’s only goal and Parker earning the shutout again. Halifax County, which had won its semi-final 1-0 over Dartmouth, went on to blank Bedford in the gold medal match.

Valley hosted girls’ U-16 Tier 2 provincials too

The Valley District also hosted the U-16 girls’ Tier 2 provincials in Kentville with East Kings (Dekoe) qualifying as Valley champions and Bridgetown competing as the host.

East Kings (Dekoe) finished the round robin with a tie and two losses, dropping a 2-0 decision to Cole Harbour in their first game, playing to a scoreless draw with East Hants in their second and losing 5-0 to Halifax County in their third match.

Bridgetown also finished at 0-2-1, dropping an 11-2 decision to the eventual champions from Pictou County, losing 5-3 to West Nova Fuels and then playing Riverview from Cape Breton to a 3-3 draw.

Neither Valley team advanced to the medal round, which saw Cole Harbour blank West Nova Fuels 6-0 for bronze and Pictou County edge Halifax County 1-0 for gold.

Four other provincial tourneys held

Four other provincial tournaments were held on the Labour Day weekend. East Kings Hubley carried the Valley colours into the U-16 boys’ Tier 2 provincials in Antigonish and also finished the round robin with two losses and a draw.

East Kings opened with a 1-1 draw with Halifax County then dropped a 3-1 decision to East Hants and lost 2-1 to Fundy Youth from the Highland region. Stephen Hall had two of his team’s goals and Devon Fraser scored the other.

Antigonish won gold, East Hants silver and Yarmouth bronze.

At the U-14 boys’ Tier 2A provincials…

At the U-14 boys’ Tier 2A provincials in East Hants, Valley United lost 5-1 to the host team, fell 2-0 to Antigonish and 2-1 to Cole Harbour to finish at 0-3. Drew Wannamaker had both Valley goals. Riverview won gold, East Hants silver and Antigonish bronze.

At the U-14 girls’ Tier 2A provincials in Stellarton, Valley United finished with a 1-2 record. Valley opened with a 2-0 win over New Waterford, with Maddie Hughes and Mikayla Webster scoring the goals, then lost 2-0 to Dartmouth and 2-0 to Fundy. The gold and bronze medal matches had to be rescheduled due to the weather.

At the U-12 boys’ Tier 2A provincials hosted by Bedford at the Burnside fields in Dartmouth, Valley United finished at 0-3, out of medal contention.

Valley lost its opener 2-1 to Cape Breton. Bryden Dunphy scored the Valley goal. Valley then lost 4-0 to Dunbrack and 5-1 to Scotia, with Nick Blanchard scoring the goal. Scotia took the gold medal, Dartmouth the silver and Dunbrack the bronze.