Three-one goal wins, four victories and a trip to the top of the podium.
Okotoks United’s girls U13 Tier 3 boarded squad had a weekend to remember at the 2024 Anthem Communities Cup to take home the tournament title and cap the first half of the annual competition Sunday at the Cavalry FC Regional Field House in Aldersyde.
“It’s something they’ve been striving towards for a few years,” said Okotoks United coach Kristie Emms. “They’ve been in this indoor tournament for a few years and won silver, won bronze, we’ve had shootouts.
“This is the first time they’ve won gold in the indoor tournament and the first time in three occasions where they went into a penalty shootout and they won.”
Okotoks was victorious in its opener in a 5-4 seesaw contest over Medicine Hat’s RASC, a harbinger of what was to come all weekend.
Following a 10-2 triumph over the MUSC Magic, Okotoks inched by the Chestermere Amazons 3-2 to earn a spot in the gold medal game.
In a rematch with RASC, Okotoks again prevailed by the one-goal margin by a 3-2 count via the penalty shootout.
“When we played them the first time, it was the very first game of the tournament, both teams were fresh, excited to play,” said Emms. “By the time the last game came, both teams had played three games already, were exhausted and just really motivated to win that gold medal.
“It was two very different games. They were an excellent team that had good players, very comparable to us and it was just a battle of who wanted it more and who took advantage of the opportunities they were given.
“Both teams did that to the point where we had to go to a shootout.”
Goalkeeper Madi Harris stepped up in the penalty kick round, and was crucial in regulation play as well, to backstop Okotoks to the title.
“She was outstanding in the game, she made some really good saves that kept us in it and some really amazing stops in the penalty shootout,” the coach added.
Nine gold medallists were determined on Sunday in tournament play as well as a pair of finals in High Country League action.
Okotoks earned silver in the U12 Tier 3 boarded division.
The hosts had a 1-1-1 record in round-robin and lost the tournament final 5-2 to the SWU Selects.
The other division winners were the Blackmud Creek, Foothills 2012 Girls, Blizzard Arsenal 13 Girls, SWU Selects, Rangers WFC Blue, Foothills Spirit and SWU Wave.
“What stands out for me, for the girls, for the team is just the dedication that they had towards working together to try to get this result,” added Emms. “They really banded together and put everything out there to try and do the best we could in a format we don’t usually play.”
Okotoks’ gold medal-winning squad competes in the boardless 7vs.7 format in league play where they’ve seen an impressive jump in form over the calendar year.
The second weekend of action runs Jan. 19-21 with 12 boys divisions taking to the field house.
Okotoks is fielding two squads in U13 boarded, one in U12 boarded, U11 boardless, U11 futsal and U10 boardless.
For more information, visit okotoksunitedsoccer.ca.
