Valley U-14, U-16 girls clinch Tier 1 playoff berths

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Valley United U-14 and U-16 girls’ soccer teams were both successful in clinching berths in this last weekend’s Nova Scotia Soccer League championship tournaments (and Soccer Nova Scotia provincials).

The U-16 girls wrapped up their NSSL regular season with a 6-5-4 record for 22 points, good for a tie for fourth place with Cape Breton. Valley claimed the fourth and final playoff berth in a tiebreaker.

The U-16 girls missed a chance to take sole possession of fourth spot with a 3-0 loss to Scotia in their regular season finale Aug. 24.

The U-16 girls’ provincials are this weekend at the Mainland Common in Halifax, with Halifax County (first in the regular season), Dartmouth (second) and Scotia (third) joining Valley United in the field. Valley’s first game is against Halifax County.

The final weekend of the U-14 girls’ regular season saw Valley drop a 3-2 decision to Cape Breton Aug. 23 then play to a scoreless draw with the same team Aug. 24.

The results left the U-14 girls fourth (and in the playoffs) with a 9-5-5 record for 32 points, six ahead of fifth-place Dartmouth and just one behind third-place Cape Breton.

The U-14 girls’ provincials are also this weekend on the Mainland Common, with first-place Scotia, Halifax County and Cape Breton rounding out the field. Valley’s semi-final match is against Scotia.

U-14, U-16 boys fall short

The Valley U-14 and U-16 boys both fell short in their quest for a berth at provincials. Despite winning their regular season finale 3-2 over Scotia Aug. 27, the U-14 boys lost a tiebreaker after finishing the season tied for fourth with an 8-5-6 record.

The U-16 boys finished the season in sixth place, out of the playoffs, with an 8-8-2 record. Valley ended up two points behind Halifax City and Dunbrack, who were tied for fourth, with Dunbrack claiming the final playoff berth in a tiebreaker.

In their regular season finale Aug. 29, the U-16 boys lost 5-1 to Bedford Cochrane Noseworthy-Smith scored his team’s only goal.

Many highlights

Individual regular season highlights for Valley Tier 1 youth teams included Lauren Landry of the provincial champion Valley U-18 girls, whose 13 goals led the league.

Similarly, James Nunn’s 14 goals (in 16 games) for the bronze medal-winning Valley U-18 boys also led the league. Sidney Doucette was tied for third with 11 goals; between them, Nunn and Doucette had more than half of their team’s 47 goals.

Haleigh Fletcher of the Valley U-14 girls also scored 14 goals in 16 games, good for third in her league. Other leading scorers for Valley teams included Alex Verge (eight goals) for the U-16 boys, Kieran Collins (eight goals) for the U-14 boys, and Brittany Green and Peggy Kenny (seven goals each) for the U-16 girls.

Defensively, Jillian Cochrane of the Valley U-18 girls tied for first in her division with six shutouts. The U-18 girls allowed 12 goals in 19 regular season games.

Vanessa Robertson of the Valley U-14 girls finished the regular season with nine shutouts, tops for any Valley keeper this season and good for second in her division.