Three separate Yorkton United soccer teams took part in the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association 2014 Children's Hospital Tournament this past weekend.
Yorkton United Voltage Girls U12 team took part in the U12 Girls Recreational bracket and went 2-1-1 over the weekend to win the silver medal.
The Voltage girls opened the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Minnedosa. They followed that victory with a 0-0 draw against the Assiniboine West Sabres before edging out the JTCC Harbottle Dominators 2-1 to secure a spot in the gold medal game.
However an injury to their keeper early on in the gold medal game put the Voltage girls at a disadvantage and their opponents, the Windsor U12 team, took advantage, filling the Yorkton net en route to a 7-0 victory.
The Yorkton United U12 boys team also took part in the tournament. The U12 boys participated in the Developmental League, which was the highest level they could play in.
The U12 boys lost their first game 4-1 to WSEU Lopez despite a spectacular header by Jon Hedley that eluded the Lopez keeper to make it 2-1 at that time.
The U12 boys rebounded from their opening game loss quite well however, as they beat Winnipeg SCSA Force Walker 2-1 thanks to a Winnipeg own goal and a Brett Switzer goal.
Their final match of the tournament was 4-2 loss to WSEU Tydings. A slow first half resulted in a 3-1 deficit for the Yorkton club at halftime with their lone goal coming off the foot of Josh Kidd.
Winnipeg added to their advantage with a goal at the 29 minute mark of the game to make it 4-1, however Cole Looft answered right back with a rocket shot that beat the Winnipeg keeper cleanly. Unfortunately it was not enough as the Yorkton United U12 boys finished 1-2 and out of playoff contention.
The final team to take part in the tournament was the Yorkton United U10 boys team. Just like the U12s, the U10s also took part in the Developmental League. But unlike the U12s, the U10s dominated the opposition to open the tournament, crushing WSEU Laluk 7-2 in the opening match on the strength of four goals by Justin Adams. Tyler Powell also found the net in the game twice.
The Yorkton United Sonics U10 dominance carried over to their second game of the tournament as well. The boys from Yorkton crushed WPFC Hogsden 7-0 with Powell scoring his third, fourth and fifth goals of the tournament to lead the way. Amish Tripathy, Matthew Dietrich, John Fetsch and Justin Adams also found the score sheet with singles in their second victory of the tournament.
The two wins propelled the Sonics into the group final against Winnipeg Foxworthy in a game that would decide who would play in the tournament final.
The two teams looked relatively even all game long, however it was Winnipeg that took a 2-1 lead into the half with Yorkton's lone first half goal being scored by Carter Dumelie.
The second half saw Yorkton begin to carry the play. Soon the Sonics were rewarded for their efforts as Tripathy notched his second of the tournament and first of the game to draw even.
Tripathy would record his second goal later in the half while Foxworthy would also score resulting in a 3-3 draw.
However the draw meant the two teams finished with identical records. The tiebreaker of goals for and against was also even, meaning the two teams had to take part in a shootout to decide who would take on Phoenix Bigras in the finals.
Each team selected five shooters and a keeper and while both Matthew Dietrich and Jonathan Fetsch scored, Chett Ostapowich just couldn't stop the Foxworthy shooters as the Sonics fell 4-2 in a shootout.
Foxworthy went on to win the gold medal match 7-2 over Bigras.
Yorkton United U14
The Yorkton United U14 team was in action this past weekend, traveling to Saskatoon to take on the defending Saskatchewan Premier Soccer League (SPSL) U14 champions the SUSC Titans on Saturday before visiting Prince Albert on Sunday.
Saturday's game was a tough one for United. Despite an occasional offensive chance the young United club were overmatched by a senior dominated Saskatoon club in the form of a 10-2 drubbing. "We were in tough and we didn't put our best performance in," offered Yorkton United U14 head coach Mike Jakubiec. "They (Saskatoon)are a team based of all senior players, but we still didn't put our best performance in."
Scoring for United were Matthew Mandziuk and Dami Ogunbiyi, scoring their third and fourth goals of the season respectively.
Sunday didn't prove to be much better for the U14 club as they lost again, this time 6-2, to drop their record to 0-4 on the season.
But depite the record, Jakubiec remains optimistic about his club's chances at making the playoffs later in the year. "I think this team definitely has the ability to get there, I just think it's a matter of putting in the work on the pitch," mentioned Jakubiec. "It's a long season and it'll be tough but our goal is to make the playoffs and if we could win our home games and a couple of away ones we'll have a good chance."
Jakubiec also mentioned that it was tough for his club to open their inaugural SPSL season with four games on the road, three of which were in Saskatoon and one of which was against the defending champions. "The four games we had on the road to start the season made it really difficult for us," suggested Jakubiec. "Especially for boys at this age as they don't travel as well as they would if they were older."
The next action for the U14 team will be this Saturday, June 7 when they play their first home game of the season when they host Unidad Juniors. Kickoff is set for 1:00pm.
The Yorkton United U12 and U10 boys, as well as the U12 girls will all be in action this weekend as well. Those three teams will travel to Regina for the Challenge Cup Tournament.
