An Okotoks minor soccer team is heading to the top two tournaments in the province with something its been lacking for months — a full roster.
The U14 boys Okotoks Strikers carried an undefeated record from the Calgary Minor Soccer Association’s Tier IV Pool B seeding round, but were beset by player movement for a myriad of reasons.
However, head coach Jeff Dyck’s Strikers booked themselves a ticket to the Tier IV inter-cities championship this weekend, July 14-15 in Edmonton, as a result of finishing third in the Pool A playoff round.
The Strikers had already qualified for provincials as the only representative from the Foothills to bid for its place at the tournament.
“I would think we will definitely be challenged, but I would pretty much guarantee that we’re going to finish high in both,” Dyck said of the inter-cities and provincials. “We ended up finishing third in the league and in our league because (Calgary) is a big city (so) we face a lot of good teams.”
Dyck will have his full complement of players available for both tournaments.
“This will be my first time since the seeding rounds that my entire team will be there for inter-city and for provincials,” Dyck said. “I think it’s going to be a little more comfortable, it will be our first half team not our second half team.“
The Strikers went 7-0 in the seeding round before jumping up from Pool B to A for the playoff round, where they posted a mark of 4-2-1.
Roster movement played a major factor in the challenging second half for the Strikers.
“There was a little controversy with keeping our goalie (Joe Wright) because he also played on the U12 team and we ended up not being able to keep him,” said Dyck of Wright’s absence from the playoff round. “We had two of our strikers acting as our goalies and one of them being Nicholas Wielgus.”
The latter is the chief goal scoring threat for the Strikers and his absence from the top of Okotoks’ formation was sorely missed while he filled in as the makeshift goalkeeper.
“(Wielgus) has got pretty good hands so I put him in net (for) half of the game each game since the playoff round,” Dyck said. “We ended up with two loses and a tie which is unfortunate because we would have had a perfect season if we had our regular goalie.”
Wright is eligible to play for the U14 team at the inter-cities tournament.
The summer season also influenced Dyck’s lineup as many of his players took off on family vacations in the playoff round and top-tier defender Dylan Williams missed four games due to a suspension.
Having survived the tough stretch to come out of the playoff round, Dyck said he is confident his team is battle tested for the inter-cities and then the provincial tournament, July 19-21 in Edmonton.
The first loss of the season, a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the MSB Strikers on June 25, was a tough pill to swallow for the previously undefeated Okotoks club, but also re-focused the Strikers.
“It was definitely difficult to get over that, but I tell the boys it’s tough to know how good it feels to win when you haven’t had a loss,” Dyck said. “In the first half we were walking over teams, we won one game 19-0 and that’s not a challenge so (the loss) actually helped them, you never want to lose, but it’s nice to know you can comeback.”
The return of Wright for each championship shouldn’t hurt either.
“That’s why I think we’re going to be doing much better, we’ll be stronger because he’s a fantastic young goalie,” Dyck said.
Okotoks midfielder Frankie Corbett is also confident the Strikers can contend with Alberta’s best.
“I think we’re playing pretty good together as a team,” said Corbett, a student at Okotoks Junior High.
The 13-year-old playmaker said he expects the Strikers to earn a podium finish at the inter-cities.
“I think we should place in the top-three there,” he said. “As long as we keep working together it will all be good.”
The Strikers won’t be the only representative from the Okotoks Minor Soccer Association at inter-cities and provincials.
The U12 girls Okotoks Magic is poised to do extremely well at the tournaments too after producing a perfect record through both the seeding and playoff rounds.
“There’s a core group of girls that have been playing together for a long time,” said Magic head coach Kerrie Reschke. “They’ve slowly developed their skills and working together as a unit and actually kind of getting it. The light bulb went on this year.”
The Magic, winners of all 13 of its matches, is in Calgary for the inter-cities’ Tier IV championship July 13-14 and travel to Taber for the provincial championship, July 20-22.
“We’re aiming for gold, I think everybody does,” Reschke said of her expectations at both tournaments. “We might have a bad game, but honestly with their drive and their determination I would suspect they’ll finish in the top two for sure.”
Elsewhere, the CMSA Outdoor Final Tournament proved to be fruitful for a trio of Okotoks Minor Soccer Association squads.
The U10 boys Okotoks Mavericks took gold, the U12 girls Okotoks Storm earned the bronze medal and the U10 girls Okotoks Madrid walked away with the copper.
For more information visit the OMSA website at www.okotoksminorsoccer.com.
