A three-medal weekend closed the account for the seventh chapter of the Communities Cup.
Okotoks won silver at the U12 7v7 level to highlight three trips to the podium for the tournaments hosts on the second and final weekend of the Anthem United Communities Cup, held Jan. 19-22 at the Cavalry FC Regional Field House in Aldersyde.
“The performance the boys put out (in the final) is the best I’ve seen them play,” said Okotoks United coach Peter Halls. “They were unlucky to come away with a 2-nil loss. A fair result would have been a tie and the game settled on a penalty shootout.
“The boys battled so hard, even with 20 seconds to go being 2-nil down, we were still running hard trying to get ourselves back into that game.”
In pool play, Okotoks blanked Foothills 5-0, lost to the Villains 2-0 and tied Calglen Falcons needing a result from the finale to advance to the gold medal game.
The Villains again took a 2-0 result to claim the U12 crown.
“That Villains team is probably the best team we’ve come across,” said Halls.
The coach also lauded club technical director Matt Lumsden for his work with the U12 squad.
“He’s been working closely with that group and you can really tell from his coaching that they’re taking it onto the next level,” he said.
At the U13 boarded level, United had to beat the same opposition twice on the same day to come away with bronze.
After a pair of opening defeats, Okotoks and Airdrie played a round-robin finale knowing they would be playing again for a medal later in the day with the hosts earning a 5-1 result.
A similar script played out in the third-place match with Okotoks scoring four second-half goals en route to a 6-1 triumph. Hunter Poulsen had a hat-trick in the victory.
“Airdrie came out a lot stronger and put it to us earlier on, but we defended extremely well,” said Halls, who also coaches the U13 squad. “The boys played well, dug in deep and it was a really gritty performance from them.
“In the second game, Airdrie sat two defenders very deep so we didn’t have the option of going over top. We had to adjust our style of play and try it get down the wings and play it wide and our wingers did fantastically to get it into the middle and score that way.
“It was a big adjustment for the boys, but they listened well, understood what they had to do and they won the bronze and I’m absolutely over the moon for them, they’re such a fun group of boys to coach.”
United just missed out on two other bronze medal finishes.
In the U15 division, High River bested Okotoks for bronze by a 5-1 score with the home team producing a 1-2 record in pool play.
Okotoks also finished fourth in the U12-2 7v7 division with Foothills United getting the better of the hosts in the bronze medal final. Okotoks had a 1-1-1 record in round-robin.
In the U10 dev futsal division, which did not have playoffs and instead based results on points accumulated on the weekend, Okotoks grabbed a dramatic silver medal finish.
“We had to win (our last game) to have any chance of getting any kind of medal,” said Halls, who coached the team with Jorge Simroth and goalie coach Jeff Anderson. “We ended up winning 1-nil and the boys stood on their heads. I’ve never seen such a gritty performance from them. John Anderson was superb and made saves I didn’t know an 8-year-old could make.”
In other action, Okotoks finished fourth in U11 rec boarded with High River claiming the bronze. Okotoks was fourth in the U9 dev futsal and in U10 rec boarded earned fifth and sixth place finishes.
The boys tournament saw 11 divisions of action from the U15 to U9 levels at the field house.
All told, 100 teams competed over the two weekends of the tournament with the girls side of the bracket held from Jan. 13-15.
From coaches, administrators to volunteers, Halls said it takes a village to put on an event of this scale.
“Everyone stepped up this weekend and it was lots of hours that everyone put in,” he said. “The coaching staff, organizers, the tournament wouldn’t run without the volunteers.”
For more information, visit okotoksunitedsoccer.ca.
