SAMSL final
Today’s winner between the Impact Alumni and Force United will be awarded the Playoff Cup in the St. Albert Men’s Soccer League.
Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Riel Park.
The Impact, last years’ playoff champions, finished first in the seven-team league table at 9-1-2 (44 GF/8 GA) while the Force (8-4, 52GF/22 GA) tied Prestige Worldwide (7-2-3, 35 GF/17 GA) for second place.
The Impact are also undefeated since losing the May 5 season-opener 1-0 to the Forest Park Rangers (6-5-1, 25 GF/24 GA) and the team's fourth win in a row was Sunday’s 2-1 semifinal decision against the Rangers.
In league play, the Impact beat the Force 3-2 and 2-1.
The second playoff victory for the Force and fifth straight of the season was Sunday’s 5-1 result against Prestige.
The Golden Boot regular season scoring race featured Daniel Ward’s 13 goals to lead all players and Vince Bustamante of the Impact tied for third with 11.
The third-place game at 11 a.m. features the Rangers against Presitage.
Meanwhile, the Impact will represent SAMSL at the Tier III provincials, Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 in Calgary.
Last year at provincials in Edmonton, the Impact’s record was 1-2 (4 GF/6 GA) and the Rangers, the second SAMSL rep in the Tier III tournament, were 0-2-1 (1GF/4 GA).
Tier II playdowns
The St. Albert Impact 5 women’s team finished second in the division 2A table for a berth in the Tier II provincial playdowns after Thursday’s result in the Edmonton District Soccer Association.
The 7-5 victory by first-place Sherwood Park Phoenix 3 against third-place Rio Terrace FC maintained the Impact’s second-place standing.
Rio Terrace (11-4-1, 71 GF/32 GA) needed a win against Phoenix to secure the second of two playdown berths after the Impact (11-2-3, 57 GF/24 GA) battled Dreadnought 2 (7-5-3) to a 1-1 draw Tuesday at Sherwood Park.
Makenna Van Der Veen scored the lone goal and Paige Semeniuk was in net for the first-year Impact team.
The playdowns kick off Tuesday with the Impact playing the second-place division 2B team – FC Excelsior 3 (9-5-1, 69 GF/28 GA) or Powerplay FC 2 (9-6-1, 50 GF/35 GA) – at 6:30 p.m. at ESA Complex.
The winner will face Phoenix (13-2-1, 66 GF/22 GA) or first-place division 2B Ital-Canadian/Azzurri (16-0, 117 GF/15 GA) next Saturday at 2 p.m. at ESA Complex to determine the second EDSA rep at the four-team Tier II provincials, Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 in Edmonton.
U13 provincials
The St. Albert Soccer Association hosts the U13 Tier I male and female provincials next weekend at Riel Park with three St. Albert Impact teams competing.
The eight male teams include Impact Jones and Impact Ashworh while Impact Valenzuela is among the eight female teams.
Pool play starts Friday and Sunday’s crossover medal finals are 12:45 p.m. for bronze and 1 p.m. for gold/silver.
The group one matches for Impact Ashworth are 5 p.m. Friday against Villians FC and Saturday at 9:15 a.m. against the Warriors, and 2:45 p.m. against Springbank FC.
In group two, Impact Jones plays LFC Warriors at 5:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s match times are 9 a.m. against Juventus and 2:45 p.m. against Foothills FC.
The group two matches for Impact Valenzuela are 6:45 p.m. Friday against Blizzard SC and Saturday at 11:15 a.m. against Sherwood Park Phoenix and 4:30 p.m. against Red Deer Renegades.
Visit albertasoccer.com for the tournament website.
