The Williams Lake FC U15/16 girls soccer team dribbled away from the SX Cup’s U17 division in Surrey with a silver medal.
“The tournament was very well run and the facilities were fantastic,” said Williams Lake FC head coach Nara Riplinger.
At the tournament, Williams Lake played four games.
The first saw them take on the CMF Fury (Coquitlam U17) where they gave up two goals in the first four minutes, however, managed to claw their way back into the contest.
“Once our jitters were done we played a very controlled, possession game,” Riplinger said. “We scored two goals to tie, but CMF came back with one more but we finished the game with a score of 5-3 in our favour.”
Game two saw Williams Lake FC face off with the North Okanagan Selects (U17) where they played a valiant first half and battled hard to keep the past provincial-winning team to 0-0 in the first half.
“The opposition was fast, and skilled and strong,” Riplinger said. “However, they also were called on a number of fouls including three yellow cards that led to one red card being issued.”
Read More: Storied coach brings European Football School to Williams Lake Youth Soccer Association players
She said her younger, smaller team was worn down in the second half and conceded four goals in a 4-0 defeat, while North Okanagan went on to finish the tournament in first place and undefeated.
In game three Williams Lake pulled off a 5-0 shutout victory of the CCB Strikers of Surrey.
“The girls had a pre-game nap as their warm up and returned to the field in the afternoon bruised and exhausted,” Riplinger said, but added they moved the ball well in the 5-0 win.
Lastly, the team played West Coast FC (Vancouver U17) in its fourth and final game.
Riplinger said the girls played a solid game, but not their best looking, however, managed to take a 4-0 win against an older team to place second in the tournament.
While at the tournament the girls were able to take in a Vancouver Whitecaps game, sample 238 flavours of gelato at Casa Gelato, walk the pier in Whiterock and have fish and chips on the beach.
sports@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter