Happy Valley-Goose Bay’s Under-16 BMO Girls team made the trip across the Trans Labrador Highway to compete against four Labrador West Teams.
They were Team Wensman and Team Winter (Two teams created from the division of the Under-16 girls All-Star team), the Under-14 Girls team as well as the Under-14 Boys team.
Round-robin play showed some very entertaining soccer with awesome goals, spectacular saves and great sportsmanship.
The semi-finals first put the first place team from Goose Bay up against the Under-14 boys. This was a barnburner with terrific end-to-end play and lots of offence by both teams.
Rebekah Whey opened the scoring partway through the first half to put Goose Bay up 1-0. The play went back and forth for a long time, but in the last five minutes the boys put on a big offensive push and were rewarded with a tying goal by Devon Ryan.
That put the game into overtime with the golden goal in effect. The first half of overtime generated lots of cheers and gasps from the fans but no goals were scored.
The second half saw the game decided with a heavy shot by Charlene Duffett that that could not be stopped. This booked the BMO girls into the final.
The second semi-final was a showdown between the two Under-16 Girls teams from Labrador West. Both Team Wensman and Team Winter played sound defense with no goals being scored until the last two minutes of the game when Florence Pinto hammered home a great shot to secure Team Wensman into the final.
The Championship game was another nail-biter that made it into overtime as well. Goose Bay BMO Girls had a shortened bench due to injuries but still managed to carry play using the great ball control and movement that got them there. They again opened the scoring with a goal from Krystal Ann Kavanagh that they carried to halftime.
Team Wensman refused to roll over when their leading scorer, Florence Pinto notched another great goal five minutes into the second half.
BMO Girls came back and regained the lead less then two minutes later when Rebekah Whey buried her forth of the tournament. It looked like they would hold off Team Wensman until a bizarre own goal found its way behind the Goose Bay keeper with less than a minute remaining.
They continued play into sudden death overtime. Goose Bay’s BMO Girls came away champions when Jade Pilgrim buried a one timer to give the banner to Goose Bay BMO Girls. It was a very entertaining championship game and both teams are to be commended.
Team Hard Hat awards went to Arianna Pitcher (U14 girls), Sean Henderson (U14 Boys), Courtney Burton (Team Winter), Marthea Cole (Team Wensman) and Krystal Ann Kavanagh (BMO). Individual awards went to Michaela Etsell (Most Sportsmanlike), Braedan Sheppard (Flashiest Shoes), Devon Ryan (Ball Control Competition), Charlene Duffett (Juggling Contest), Carter Saunders (Best Save), Devon Ryan (Best Goal), Mikaila Hudson (Top Defender/Keeper), Charlene Duffett (Top Scorer). It was a great weekend of soccer for all involved.
