The Shuswap was alive with frantic soccer action May 17-21 as regular season play and tournament games kicked off.
The Shuswap FC U13 girls team travelled to Kamloops May 19-20 to play in the Slurpee Cup, an annual youth soccer tournament which hosts teams from across the Interior. The Shuswap team took second place in the U13 bracket with two wins and one loss.
Aliyah Fowler and Caillie Hay-Vicars of Salmon Arm, along with Payton Kerr of Sicamous, played as part of the Thompson Okanagan Football Club’s U14 girls soccer team which went undefeated to win the U14 division of the tournament. The TOFC team had a record of three wins and one draw across the tournament, narrowly beating out the West Vancouver Rangers by a single point to claim the trophy.
Okanagan Geothermal Ltd. brushed back the Shuswap Outlaws 3-2 in North Okanagan Soccer League play May 16 at MacDonald Park.
The defending playoff champions improved to 4-0-1 atop the six-team circuit, with the Shuswap Outlaws dipping to 1-3-1.
The North Enderby Timber took care of business under the lights at Greater Vernon Athletics Park by stopping Turn-Key Controls 6-0.
The Timber controlled possession in the first half and opened the scoring in the 30th minute off a Tanner Fulljames header. Fulljames came out of retirement in the goal-scoring department by leaping above everyone in the box to nod in the Xander Sladen corner.
The Timber went up 2-0 when Evan Frederick beat a defender in the middle of the park and sent in Brent Poulsen, who only needed one touch to beat the charging keeper. The Earth Effects Man of the Match Sladen played in another gorgeous corner to Fulljames, who found James Huntington to put the Timber up 3-0.
Danny Stein on a breakaway, Frederick and Brodie Couch rounded out the 3-0-1 Timber offence. Stefan Depner earned the one-save clean sheet but helped the Timber control possession all night. Turn-Key is 1-4 so far this season.
Salmon Arm Auto Quest rolled over Peter’s Tirecraft 5-1 at Blackburn Park in mens soccer action May 19.
The score was 1-0 at the half with Travis Beck making some stellar saves to keep it tight. Auto Quest went up 2-0 in the 65th minute and added another shortly after. Mike Conlin responded for Tirecraft but Auto Quest had too much pressure for Tirecraft and added two more insurance tallies late.
The Red Robin Man of the Match for Tirecraft was Beck. Auto Quest is third at 3-2, while Tirecraft is last at 0-3-1.
Meanwhile, the 39th Vernon National Oldtimers Tournament featured 42 teams with play opening Saturday morning. There were 26 men’s entries, including the LWO Legends of Salmon Arm, who lost the 35+ final 1-0 to Edmonton Arsenal last year.
The Legends didn’t make the finals in 2018, being knocked out of the running in an 0-4 loss to the Vernon team.
With files from Kevin Mitchell
@Jodi_Brak117
jodi.brak@saobserver.net
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