A handful of St. Paul teams busted out their best moves and showcased the hard work put in by the St. Paul Soccer Association by claiming provincial medals at home, and away, over the past weekend.
The St. Paul Lions soccer fields played host to U12 and U 14 soccer provincials this weekend, while the U16 boys and three St. Paul players on the Bonnyville U18 team were playing in Camrose, and Ponoka, respectively.
The teams faced their biggest challenge yet, playing against the best teams in their age group and tier, from across the province. Needless to say, the U12 boys, who were playing in St. Paul, took that opportunity very seriously.
The team went undefeated all weekend, only allowing one goal in their final game against Edson, last year’s provincial winners for the same category.
Coaches Randi Drummond and Colin Miller were “ecstatic and proud” of the way the boys played all weekend, putting on their best performance of the year. After a tough weekend two weeks ago at the Lakeland cup, where they lost every game, the boys came back to be dominant at the provincial competition.
Drummond says the ”boys really came together, and put together everything they’ve worked on all season. The boys’ desire to do well at home push them even further.”
This year’s U12 Boys team had only one returning player from last year, meaning that the team mostly consisted of younger players that were new to that level of soccer.
The St. Paul U16 boys’ team claimed another provincial gold medal for the community, competing in Camrose. The team won the Lakeland Cup two weeks ago, and continued their winning ways with a dominant performance, not losing any games all weekend. Their total season record ended up at 21 wins, 1 loss, and 2 draws.
Coach Stephanie Tremblay was extremely proud of the boys, but says she expected the team to do well at provincials because of their play throughout the season, and the goal they set out for themselves at the beginning of the year.
“At the start of the season, we set a team goal of medalling at provincials. We knew our toughest task was to win Lakeland Cup because the Lakeland District has established itself as one of the best districts in the province. Lakeland teams medalled in each age group for each gender,” says Tremblay, adding, “It felt great,” to win the provincial championship.
The U12 girls were also playing in town, and took home some hardware on home field, claiming the silver medal. The girls won the Lakeland Cup two weeks ago and continued winning until the final on Sunday, where they lost in a close match.
“Heading in the gold medal game, we knew it was going to be a good match-up as it was the same team we had defeated in Camrose to win the gold medal at the Night Classic earlier in the year,” says Coach Stephanie Ference-Whitford.
“Athabasca is a very talented, hard working team and the girls gave it their all as it would have been great to finish the season off with a fourth gold medal; however, they were just as happy to have earned the silver medal.”
Ference says that although the team was strong all year, the girls knew all of the games would be close at provincials.
“We knew it would require a team effort in order to make it to the medal rounds as all teams earned their spot there just as we had.”
Ference-Whitford also gave thanks the volunteers and everyone who helped to make hosting provincials a huge success. “Being able to host provincials in our town is a great experience. It takes a lot of volunteers to be able to make it happen and I commend everyone who had helped.”
The U14 Boys managed a sixth place finish out of eight total teams, and the U14 girls managed a fifth place finish out of eight teams.
The Bonnyville U18 boys team had three St. Paul players this year due to not enough players being available in St. Paul. Patrick Dion, Brandon Fedoruk, and Madison Brousseau made the drive to Bonnyville throughout the season to compete. The boys contributed in every way they could, and the team made it to provincials in Ponoka, entering the competition undefeated.
Dion was in his last year of soccer this year, and is very thankful that he got the opportunity to play at provincials for the Bonnyville team.
“Throughout my sports career I had never gone to provincials, so joining this great team and meeting a whole bunch of new friends while getting a bronze medal was a tremendous feeling.”
Dion added that entering the season he and the other boys did not know they were going to do as well as they did.
“When we attended the first practice, we didn’t think we were going to win a single game, but as the season continued, we kept winning and seemed like we couldn’t lose. The feeling of hearing that last whistle, knowing we won, in my last ever soccer game, it’s something I’ll remember for a while.”
After another successful soccer season in St. Paul, Tremblay said she wanted to emphasize what the mission of the St. Paul Soccer program is.
“Our focus is on player and coach development for the longevity of the program, and not on winning championships. Our program success is a product of the hard work of our coaches, board members, parents, volunteers, and most importantly, our players.”
This week, the St. Paul soccer fields will again be busy, as the British Soccer Camp takes place.
