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United U12s win three at Slurpee Cup

Vernon United U12 Boys (VUB) went 3-1 in the Slurpee Cup in Kamloops last weekend.
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Ethan Nickoli of Tolko United U11 Boys, right, battles a Kelowna player in the Kamloops Slurpee Cup. (Photo Submitted)

Vernon United U12 Boys (VUB) went 3-1 in the Slurpee Cup in Kamloops last weekend.

VUB ambushed Prince George 6-0 in their opener with Mitchell Bond scoring a deuce and singles going to Jerome Winter, Mac Sorochuk, Kailen Russell and Eric Anderson.

Vernon then fell 3-2 to the European Football School (EFS) from Vancouver.

A corner from Russell resulted in a beautiful top-shelf header by Bond for the early lead. Bond bagged another just before break to put United back in the lead. Great offensive pressure and tough defence held EFS off until the dying minutes.

Tolko outlasted the Comox Valley Strikers 4-3 Sunday afternoon with Anderson starting the offence with a corner that went roof daddy. Russell made it 2-0 before the half. Mathew Acob and Bond each added singles.

Vernon crushed Kootenay East 8-2 in their last game with Winter bagging a pair and singles going to Austan VandenBrand, Josh Mark, Ed Scott, Bond, Acob and Anderson. Sorochuk took on keeper duties for most of the weekend, but did get some relief from Mathew Hill Turner and Anderson.

The Tolko Vernon United U11 Boys had an eventful outing at the Slurpee Cup with four matches in three days.

Conrad Halloran earned MVP as United fell 8-1 to the Kamloops Blaze with Charles Erickson recording a great strike in the second half.

An early start and cooler conditions saw Vernon fall 2-1 to Comox Valley Sunday morning. Wingers Nolan Stiven and Erickson worked hard with striker Griffin Trickey setting up Ethan Nickoli for the goal. Lyndon Carleton, thanks to his great tactical play, rated MVP.

Hot, tired and frustrated was the name of the game in the oven-like conditions for the Sunday afternoon tilt against Kelowna United Strikers.

Vernon took an early 1-0 lead an Erikson snipe, but 15 minutes of steady pressure from the Strikers at the end of the first half had Vernon on the run for the remainder of the game in a 5-2 loss.

Liam Greenan was marvellous at centre back while game MVP Trickey spearheaded a strong effort up front, setting up a Halloran goal on a brilliant though ball.

In their final game Monday morning against Quesnel, and after eight league and seven tournament games, team Lockwood finally recorded a win, 8-2.

Halloran pulled the hat trick, Trickey added a deuce and singles came from Stiven and MVP James Lockwood on a left-footed strike.

The U11 Boys (Team Nice) went 2-2 at the Slurpee Cup tournament, slamming Kootenay East 7-0 and stopping Kelowna Skillerz 2-0 while losing 1-0 to Kelowna and 6-0 to Kamloops Blaze.

A missed free kick opportunity and a lucky goal from Kelowna made the difference in their 1-0 loss. Rylan Nadurak, Ford Race showed great anticipation on defence, while keeper Luca Van de Vosse made some huge saves and distributed the ball well.

Kamloops was first to the ball and their speed and skill were too much for Vernon. Ford Race continued his dominance in centre defence and took the MVP award.

In Game 3, Team Nice played a younger Kootenay side and got three goals from Tristiano Driedzic and singles from Thomas Nice, Race, Jeffrey Curtis and Alistair Meyer.

Sam Levesque, William Russell and Luka Romero were stellar in midfield and used the space to bring the ball up the field. Tristiano was awarded MVP.

Game 4 vs the Skillerz was the best game United have played to date and coach Jeff Nice was most impressed with his squad. Having faced the Skillerz in previous league games, coach Nice adjusted his formation and changed the back line to add width, speed and ball handling skills.

The tactical change worked and Tolko opened the scoring with a Driedzic corner to Thomas Nice who was waiting in the box to tap in the winner. Adam Levesque playing a midfield role, scored a few minutes later, his first of the season. Nice was awarded the MVP.

The U12 Girls Vernon United Tolko Strikers finished 2-2 at the Slurpee Cup.

Tolko started off with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Kelowna Lightning. Kelowna took the lead 25 minutes in before Kristen Francks responded in the 35th minute after being set up by Anna Hirschkorn. Kelowna took the lead minutes later, but Hirschkorn once again set up Francks who skillfully beat the Kelowna keeper to the left side. However, it wasn’t to be as Kelowna managed to score with only two minutes left. Hirschkorn was the Game MVP while Sadie Christensen and Chelsea Sladen hustled in the midfield.

On Sunday morning the Strikers disposed of Prince George 7-0 in a one-sided affair. Francks tallied four goals, while Amy Curtis, Kirsten Brown and Makenna Doyle each added singles. Caryss Hill, Doyle, Jessica Bond, Hirschkorn, Francks and Cassidy Bocking all added assists. Francks was also selected as Game MVP. On Sunday afternoon, in the blistering heat, the Tolko Strikers fell 5-1 to Kelowna SWAT. Bocking scored the lone Vernon goal late in the second half to break the shutout and was also selected a Game MVP.

Up early for an 8 a.m. game on Monday, the Tolko Strikers beat Comox Valley #2 1-0 in a evenly matched nailbiter. Clara Meyer scored the game’s lone goal seven minutes into the match after burying a Brown feed into the top right hand corner of the net. Amiee Skinner was dominant all weekend long in the middle of the park, and Jesse Mitchell was stellar on defence and in the net. Meyer was also selected as Game MVP.

In their first game at the Slurpee Cup against rival Kamloops Blaze White, the Vernon Tolko Coldstream Lumber U13 girls’ offensive line up came out strong with Skylee Sigurdson-Poirier and Mia Hyer getting shots on goal in the first five minutes, and then a goal slipped in by MadisonBergman at nine minutes. Paige Maleska was tremendous on defence, and with her help the team was able to hold off Kamloops until an equalizing goal at the end of the half. No other goals were scored in the second half by either team, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Blaze coaches picked Emma Glasser as game MVP for her excellent ability to control the ball.

The girls’ second game came against a tough Calgary Blizzard Roma team. Calgary surprised the United team with two quick goals in the opening minutes. Keeper Jordyn Kisilevich fought back hard with multiple saves to keep the game close until half. Again, the Calgary girls came up with two fast goals at the beginning of the second half, and despite a tremendous effort by Vernon, the game ended in a 4-0 loss. Nadia Nelson-Shah was chosen as MVP for her speed and agility.

Saturday afternoon started with a game against Surrey Pegasus; the United girls only allowed one goal midway through the first half, but were unable to get on the board. In the second half Vernon poured on the pressure with shots on by Hyer, Kaitlyn Budgen, and Sigurdson-Poirier, but nothing got past the Surrey keeper, and the game resulted in a disappointing 1-0 loss. Nelson- Shah was again recognized as game MVP.

In Vernon’s final game of the tournament against Richmond Thunder, the game’s score definitely didn’t show the true story of the game. The girls dominated the game and had quadruple the shots on goal of the opposition, but Richmond was able to capitalize on two questionable calls by the referee, and the game ended in a heartbreaking 2-0 loss for Vernon United. Lily Lee was selected as game MVP by the Richmond coach.