Three iterations of the Denny’s Strikers were down south the first weekend of July to test themselves against the teams from around the province.
The U14 and U16 girls were in Kelowna for the Provincial B Cup.
The U14 Girls, coached by Judy Young, placed third in their group of four and progressed to the 5-6 final on Sunday.
They started the tournament on Thursday July 5 with a game against the Tsawwassen Blues. The relatively even match finished with a 1-0 loss for the Strikers. In their second game, the Quesnel Denny’s Strikers improved their play, but a few unlucky breaks lead to the three goals for the Nelson selects and a 3-0 loss. By the third game the Girls were at their best, with personal best performances all around against the Sur-Del United team. They took an early lead at ten minutes with a goal by Melissa Styran, followed by goal by Mitchell Redpath, assisted by Samantha Sameit. In the second half, Styran score her second of the match after some nice passing in front of the Sur-Del net. Though the Sur-Del team countered hard in the last 20 minutes of the match, the Quesnel Strikers defence played exceptional, allowing only a late goal, giving them the 3-1 victory. The victory pushed the Quesnel team to third in their group and relegated the Sur-Del team to fourth. The U14 final match was the 5-6 overall match against the Terrace Kermodies. The girls let in a goal in the first half, and despite strong offensive efforts, were unable to get an equalizer, placing them 6th overall.
“The girls played very well against despite the heat and their small squad of 13. It was a very tightly matched group as all the games could have gone either way,” Young said.
The U16 girls had a harder time of it in Kelowna.
The U16 Denny’s Strikers girls lost all three of their matches - 1-0 to North Coquitlam, 2-0 to Kootneys and 6-0 to Chilliwack.
“The girls played very strong against their Gold Division opponents. All players stepped up with strong efforts. Keeper Colleen Moorehouse played tremendously and kept the team in their matches,” Coach Iain Brown said.
The U16 girls did, however, win the Fair Play Award for their division at the Provincials because of their classy play and good attitude.
The U16 Boys Denny’s Strikers played to fifth in Aldergrove despite a tough first game.
The boys made too many mental mistakes in the first game and lost 4-1 said coach Kam Dosanjh. The second game was better, but they could not find the back of the net and lost 1-0. In the third game, they stepped it up. Dustin O’Neill scored off a Beckham like free kick, Braeden Doerksen slammed in their second and Ben Johannesen scored on a long range effort to seal the game winner Dosanjh said. Konrad Teetzen made an excellent save off a penalty shot and Peter Palfrey had a great shift at the end of the game helping preserve the lead for a 3-2 victory against Comox. In the last game everything clicked, resulting in a 5-1 victory over Terrace, in which Nathan Erickson-Smith scored three goals including a well placed penalty, Braeden Doerksen scored screamer of a shot and Liam Mcilvenna blew by half the Terrace team for a top shelf highlight reel goal Dosanjh said.
“Every game our team started playing better and better. Bouncing back after our tough first game was important and I was very proud of the boys for the effort they put in,” Dosanjh said.