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Golden opportunity for Impact at nationals

St. Albert Impact kicks off U15 National Cup with 19-1-2 record
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OUT OF REACH – Matteo Pagliuso, a 13-year-old goalkeeper with the 2004 St. Albert Impact (Mansaray), watches the ball sail high under the crossbar during Saturday's training session at Larry Olexiuk Field. The Grade 8 Elmer S. Gish student is the last line of defence for the Alberta Soccer Association U15 Tier I champions at the National Cup starting today at Ivor Dent Sports Park. In group B of the 12-team qualification phase, the Impact plays Halifax County United at 1:30 p.m. and Friday's match against PEI FC kicks off at 12:30 p.m. JEFF HANSEN/St. Albert Gazette

The St. Albert Impact are playing kick to win at the National Cup.

The Alberta Soccer Association U15 Tier I champions are undefeated in 21 matches when the 12-team tournament starts today at Ivor Dent Sports Park in Edmonton.

“We always find a way to win no matter how hard the game is,” said forward Dieu-Merci Michel of the 19-1-2 Impact and the only loss was the 1-0 season opener May 8 against Inter in the Greater Edmonton Soccer League.

“Of course it’s not going to be easy at nationals because it’s the best teams from all around the country,” Michel added. “It will be a challenge, but I think we can win it.

“It's going to be great.”

In group B of the qualification round, the first opponent for 2004 Impact (Mansaray) is Halifax County United at 1:30 p.m. and Friday’s match against PEI FC starts at 12:30 p.m.

The top two teams in each of the four groupings advance to the championship round to determine the one to eight finishers. The third-place teams also compete in the nine to 12 seeding bracket.

The quarter-finals are Saturday, followed by Sunday’s semifinals at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. and Monday’s medal finals at 8:30 a.m. for bronze and 12:30 p.m. for gold and silver.

The rest of the group pairings included the following teams:

Group A: Milton (Ont.) Magic, Vancouver Island Wave, Saskatoon Lakewood Deportivo.

Group C: Winnipeg Bonivital SC, Feildians (Nfld.) AA St. John’s, Yellowknife Bay SC.

Group D: St-Laurent (Que.), Moncton (N.B.) Codiac, Calgary Foothills FC 15.

“There is going to be big competition there,” said centre-midfielder Ali Yildiz. “It’s going to be way different than provincials."

Visit canadasoccer.com for the link to the tournament website.

The majority of the 18 players on the Impact’s roster won four provincial championships with the Edmonton Strikers Soccer Club before following their head coach, Kondeh Mansaray, to the St. Albert Soccer Association’s Impact regional club program this year. Mansaray is also the SASA club program head coach.

“We’re really excited because it’s our first time at nationals so we’re going to try and win it for the first time,” said Yildiz, one of 14 Impact players listed as Edmonton residents. “We’ve never lost provincials so we’re trying to do that at nationals too so we’re really excited to try and go undefeated.”

The team’s cohesiveness is its main strength.

“All of us have been together through all the tough times and the hard times so we’re a good family,” Michel said.

The breakdown of the Impact’s near perfect record is 13-1-1 (61 GF/7 GA) in the GESL, 3-0-1 (11 GF/4 GA) at provincials in Calgary and 3-0 (7 GF/2 GA) in the U17 division at the Impact Fall Cup last month.

So what does the Impact do best on the pitch?

“We score,” Michel said. “We also push each other every day and just go hard and never take anything easy, including practices and games.”

Michel, 15, led the Impact in scoring at provincials and his fifth goal was the only one in the Aug. 25 final against Foothills FC 15 as Matteo Pagliuso backstopped the team to victory. The Impact and Foothills already had berths secured for nationals as the top teams in their respective pools at provincials and Alberta was guaranteed two spots at the tournament.

“It was a free kick (in the second half by Armaan Natt) from almost our half. I was in the box and the ball was high and it was a ball who just wanted it the most and I wanted it so I just went and headed it over the goalie and it went in,” said the Grade 10 student at Belmont Secondary School in Langford, a suburb of Victoria, where he is a member of the Pacific Football Club along with Natt.

Michel, Natt and Yildiz were also listed on the gold-medal winning Team Alberta roster at the Western Canada Summer Games in August at Swift Current along with Impact teammates’ Malik Sylvester, Ali Blaybel, Emmanuel Kanu and Felix Mutuyemungu.

The break between provincials and nationals included extra training sessions in addition to the Impact Fall Cup.

“We had time to rest, but then after that we had practice every day and sometimes two times a day just to get us fit after that break to get us going,” said Yildiz, the U17 tournament division MVP at the Impact Fall Cup who scored the 4-2 winner on penalty kicks in the final against Foothills FC 16 after each team tallied once in regulation time.

The Impact are in select company as the third SASA male team to represent Alberta at nationals. The 1989 U18 Cougars won gold in Edmonton and the 2016 U14 Impact finished fourth at Moncton, NB.

“It’s an honor,” said Yildiz, 15, a Grade 11 M.E. Lazerte student.

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