Morning Star Staff
Vernon United U12 boys won bronze in the Lake Country Easter Ice Breaker Rep Soccer Tournament last weekend at Beasley Park.
After going 3-1 in preliminary play, Vernon brushed back the Kelowna United Fire 3-0 Sunday morning.
United came out flying with Fraser Christensen supplying the early first goal. The front line of Devin Bilodeau and Declan Hardy drove Kelowna back into their end for most of the game and were both able to slip one in the net.
Alexander Kazimer and Alexander Jones shared the clean sheet and the team proudly collected their first hardware of the season.
The Tolko boys, who are off to Surrey to the Adidas Cup (Whitecaps Flagship Tourney) this weekend, opened the Ice Breaker on Good Friday by falling 3-1 to Kelowna.
Even though Kelowna scored early, the Vernon boys held them down for the majority of the game. Levi Koroll scored on a long shot but Kelowna fought back with two quick hits.
Vernon then rallied to a 2-1 win over Kelowna United Legends as Marcus Erho was a force with laser-like crosses in front all day.
One of those passes was expertly tipped in by Landon Janke to put Vernon on the sheet first. Erho also was in a perfect position to score a header from a long shot from Ben Straight later. Nick Noren and Liam Collins were instrumental in shutting down the Kelowna offence and the boys held on for the win.
United yielded a pair of solid wins Saturday, starting by grounding Calgary United Avengers 3-1 as Straight converted on a scramble after an early corner Calgary made a comeback but Cameron Acob answered their rally with another goal just before half time.
With Jonah Violini and Colby McManahan playing a marvellous midfield, Landon Janke recorded the insurance goal. Calgary came on late in the game but defenders Marcus Petersen and Alexander Jones owned the back line,
Vernon took a short break and then clipped Kelowna United Fire 2-1.
The Fire struck first with an early goal, but Justin Ruscheinsky equalized and Christensen buried the winner.
MVP honours, selected by the opposing team each game, went to Petersen, Erho, Liam Collins and Straight.
Vernon United U12 girls used the Lake Country Easter Ice Breaker to jumpstart their season.
The Vernon girls showed amazing effort and skill throughout the entire weekend. United carries sponsorship from Tolko, Apple Auto Glass, and Temptasian Restaurant.
“What a great start to the season although the scores were not in our favour the girls all played with tremendous heart and that’s all a coach can ask for,” said United coach Duane Dennis. “This gives us lots to work with heading into the season as we look forward to seeing these girls develop into great players throughout the year.”
United lost 3-1 to eventual champion MUSC of Calgary in their Good Friday opener.
Vernon busted out to an early 1-0 lead from a super effort from Mya Robinson before Calgary took over for a 3-1 lead at half.
Sophie Dennis was awarded player of the game for her relentless attack and dominance up front.
On Saturday, despite the early start in the Egg McMuffin game, United came ready to play against the strong Kelowna Crushers and lost 1-0.
Vernon was backed by a stand-on-your-head performance in goal from Shaila Austin and dynamic defence from Georgia Wenger, Paige Maleska and Madison Berg.
A late first-half goal gave the Crushers the lead. Austin was awarded game MVP after recording numerous stellar saves.
With a chance to make the Sunday playoffs, Vernon fell 2-1 in penalty kicks to another Kelowna side Saturday.
afternoon.
Dennis fed Jessie Cleverly, who converted a cracker of a bouncing ball over the keeper, giving Vernon the early lead.
Again, great defence and solid goaltending by Olivia Collins kept United in the lead.
A late free kick was awarded to Kelowna just outside the box and they connected on a shot that squeaked in just under the crossbar.
Vernon had a chance shortly after to regain the lead when a cross squeaked through the legs of the Kelowna defender onto the foot of Robinson, who just missed and sent the game to penalty kicks.
In extra kicks, Kelowna capitalized on a United miss and buried the winner. Robinson received the game MVP and was literally all over the field with several scoring chances and great defensive efforts.