The soccer pitches in St. Paul were a blur of colour and movement, as St. Paul hosted the second half of Lakeland Cup, with U12 and U16 teams taking on teams from across the region over the weekend.
For St. Paul United’s U12 girls team, the weekend saw a double win – a bronze medal victory in the Lakeland Cup, as well as the gold medal for coming first in the league.
“The girls played extremely well,” said coach Richard Smyl, noting it’s a young team, but the girls showed their skills by going undefeated over the course of the league, and in fact, only losing one game in a Camrose tournament this year.
During the Lakeland Cup, the girls tied Lac La Biche 2-2 in their first match, going on to beat Vermilion and Cold Lake. However, since Lac La Biche scored more goals than St. Paul, that team would head to the finals, while St. Paul would be relegated to the bronze medal match, which the girls took on the second Vermilion team, and won 3- 1.
“The weekend went well, there was a lot of good team spirit. Everybody walked off happy. It was very positive,” said Smyl.
The U16 girls also finished the season strong, coming away with a bronze medal, as coach and board president Joy Tremblay said that the girls rebounded well after losing by a large margin to Lac La Biche on Sunday morning.
“They didn’t particularly have their best game,” she said of that Lac La Biche game. However, she was pleased to see the girls regroup for the bronze medal match, beating Vegreville, 4 – 1.
“They were thrilled, they were absolutely thrilled with their play,” said Tremblay, noting the most impressive thing for the girls and the coach was to see the team improve over the course of the season. Several other teams, such as Lac La Biche, Bonnyville and Cold Lake play indoor arena soccer over the winter, which gives them an advantage over the St. Paul teams at the start of the year, she said. However, the girls worked and gelled together over the course of the season, leading into Sunday’s bronze medal match and victory.
“For a lot of them, it was the first medal they had ever won at Lakeland Cup, so they were tickled,” she said.
The U16 boys and U12 boys also competed hard, she noted, with the U16 boys finishing fourth and the U12 boys playing a couple close games, but unable to get a win.
While the Lakeland Cup represents the end of the soccer season for some, others have been picked up to go to provincials, where they will join other Lakeland teams to compete for provincial titles. Keep watching the St. Paul Journal for coverage of summer soccer action.
Four soccer teams from St. Paul travelled to Vermilion to take part in the first part of the Lakeland Cup tournament from June 16 to 18.
The U18 boys placed the highest of the four St. Paul teams, taking home bronze medals after finishing above Viking, who finished in fourth place. Taking gold in the category was Cold Lake, while Lac La Biche finished in second place.
While the team took home some hardware, coach Stephanie Tremblay noted that expectations were high for the team, since they had finished in first place in league play this season.
The expectation was to win, and head on to provincials, she added. But, St. Paul’s first game of the tournament would see one of team’s best players get a red card, and suspended for the rest of the tournament.
“So that was a pretty big void to fill, that we weren’t able to fill,” says the coach.
And while St. Paul won’t be going to provincials, a few of the team’s players have been asked to play with Lac La Biche and Cold Lake, as those teams will compete in the provincial tournament in Camrose in July.
Also taking to the pitch in Vermilion was the U18 girls from St. Paul. The girls came in sixth place, out of six teams. Taking gold in that category was Bonnyville, and grabbing second place was Lac La Biche. Bronze went to Vegreville.
Both the U14 boys and girls also travelled to Vermilion for the final tournament of the season. The boys finished in eighth place (out of eight teams). Vegreville took home gold, and Vermilion 1 took silver.
Vermilion 2 took bronze and the Bonnyville boys took fourth place.
On the U14 girls’ side, St. Paul once again finished in last place, out of five teams. Vermilion took gold, and Cold Lake took silver. Vegreville took bronze and Bonnyville came in fourth place.
Gold medal teams will represent the Lakeland District at ASA 2017 Tier IV Rural Provincials in Camrose from July 7 to 9.
St. Paul Soccer Association president Joy Tremblay admits that the 2017 outdoor season was a frustrating one for the local league.
Although the organization was very happy with the number of registered athletes, with about 30 or 40 more players taking part in the sport, it was Mother Nature that proved to be the challenge.
“The weather has been so uncooperative,” says Joy. The rain, wind and storms resulted in games that were cancelled, and played havoc on the league’s schedule.
Overall, Joy says the St. Paul teams have done well, and the most important thing in her view is that athletes who want to play the sport have the opportunity to do so, which is what Tier 4 soccer is all about.
Having a team to play on, and the chance to improve on the field, is “the focus of our main season,” says Joy. She added that this season, the association was able to bring back a few coaches who had been retired, which was great to see.
St. Paul Soccer has a number of very experienced coaches. Also, this was the second season that a coach with the British Soccer Camp was working with teams through the season.
The coach worked with the older teams, and spent a total of about nine weeks in St. Paul. “It’s been a benefit,” says Joy, adding, the association will likely take a couple years off from having a coach from the program spent an extended time in the community.
“I think we’ve used him well, and we also have some good expertise in house also.”
As for the younger kids, Joy says, “we just want the kids active,” especially at the U4 level, where coaches are there to teach basic physical literacy, rather than specific soccer skills.
The U6 and U8 teams have also been moving toward the preferred training model of coaching soccer, which involves kids rotating through different stations, and being able to benefit from the expertise of different coaches.
St. Paul Soccer will once again be hosting a British Soccer Camp, which will run from July 4 to 7. Registration can be done online, by following the links posted on the St. Paul Soccer Association website.
A $10 late fee may be charged for athletes who register within 10 days of the start of the camp. Full day and half-day camps will be taking place in St. Paul.
