United they stood, some for the last time together on the pitch.
Battling injuries, an undermanned roster and a season’s worth of adversity Okotoks United went undefeated en route to the provincial bronze at the Alberta U18 Girls Tier III championships Sunday in Edmonton.
“Soccer is a game, but more importantly it’s foundation for character building for successful lives so we push them hard that way,” said Okotoks coach Chris Fields. “Even getting a team to provincials at this age is really challenging, but at provincials I saw all of those character builders out on the field. They made Okotoks proud, I saw incredibly hard work.”
Okotoks United did not taste defeat in the City of Champions, posting a record of 1-0-2 in round-robin to earn the second seed out of its pool.
“We only had 14 players there,” Fields said. “We had six injuries including a broken toe, two hip flexors, a bad foot, a bad back, a knee the size of a pineapple. The kids just left it all out there.
“For a number of kids this it’s their last year in soccer, some of them have been playing it since six so 10 to 12 years of soccer and it was great to go out on a winning note.”
United was full value for a provincial medal.
The squad lost just one game in the regular season in the Calgary Minor Soccer Association’s Tier III division with a record of 8-1-1, finishing second.
“They’re 16, 17, 18 years old and it requires a lot of what I would call character to keep the team together,” Fields added. “That’s the girls who do that. Grit, tenacity, team, sacrifice, commitment all of that is spotlighted at this age where there is so many competing factors.”
Graduating midfielder Alysia King had both goals in the team’s 2-2 tie with the Blizzard Rangers, Ashley Kucharski tallied the brace with Megan Flegel and Taylor Mullaly also scoring in the 4-2 victory over Sting FC with Flegel and King finding the back of the net in the 2-2 draw versus the SWU Chargers.
Okotoks scored in the final minute in the tournament opening tie, a result which eventually paved the way for the team to play for a medal.
The bronze medal game saw Okotoks erase an early deficit as Flegel used her considerable quickness to twice find the back of the net.
“She had an exceptional weekend,” the coach said. “She’s probably the fastest female I’ve ever seen and the goals she was scoring were just exceptional speed as a striker. She was the game-changer, she got both goals about five minutes apart and both were about 40 yard runs.
“The energy was the best of the four games and the teamwork was excellent considering when you have a team that’s really injured you’re working around injuries by moving people around different positions on the field and the support elevates itself too.”
The same core group captured the bronze medal at the indoor provincials two seasons ago.
In the U12 Girls Tier III provincials, Okotoks ended their season on a winning note in blanking the Foothills Prospects by a 3-0 count to finish fifth in the province. Jenna Vervoort, Emma Schmold Cassell and Olivia Baker scored in the victory. Okotoks was 0-2-1 in round-robin.
Earlier in the summer, Okotoks United took home the silver medal at the U14 Girls Tier IV provincials in Edmonton.
For more information go to okotoksunitedsoccer.ca
