U15 provincials
The St. Albert Impact are returning to the National Cup as the Alberta champions after winning the U15 Tier I provincial male final Sunday in Calgary.
Dieu-Merci Michel’s fifth goal of the tournament was the winner for Impact (Mansaray) in the 1-0 decision against Foothills FC 15.
The last time the Impact represented Alberta at the Canadian championships was 2016 as the fourth-place finishers at the U14 male tournament in Moncton, N.B.
Ironically, the 2016 Impact also beat Foothills in the final at Calgary. The match was scoreless during 80 minutes of full time and 20 minutes of extra time before the Impact prevailed 4-3 in penalty kicks as the first St. Albert male team to qualify for nationals since the 1989 gold-medal winning U18 Cougars.
The 12-team National Cup runs Oct. 9 to 14 at Ivor Dent Sports Park in Edmonton.
The Impact plays Halifax County United and PEI FC in group B of the qualification phase.
The Impact will be joined by Foothills at nationals after both teams placed first in their respective groupings at the eight-team provincials for berths in the final.
The Impact won two and tied one, with 10 goals for and four against, while Foothills (9 GF/3 GA) were the winners of three straight before the final.
The Impact's 1-1 draw against Chinooks (Borussia) was followed by victories of 6-1 against Juventus and 3-2 against Blizzard SC 04.
Ali Yildiz finished with three goals for second place team scoring behind Michel. Felix Mutuyemungu tallied twice and Aaron Bessong also scored.
The Impact roster includes the following players with the gold-medal winning Alberta team at the recent Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current: Michel, Yildiz, Mutuyemungu, Ali Blaybel, Emmanuel Kanu, Armaan Natt and Malik Sylvester.
The Impact competed in the Greater Edmonton Soccer League and placed first in pool A at 13-1-1 (61 GF/7 GA) as the top team out of 11.
“It’s big credit to the technical staff at the club for how well these kids have done,” said Kevin Jones, president of the St. Albert Soccer Association.
Additional coverage of the Impact and National Cup will appear in an upcoming issue of the Gazette.
U13 provincials
The only loss of the season for St. Albert Impact (Jones) was Sunday's final at the U13 Tier I male provincials at Riel Park.
Springbank SC scored off a free kick from about 10 yards outside of the penalty area, on the left side of the pitch close to the St. Albert Soccer Association clubhouse, with about 20 minutes gone in the first half. A quality first-touch finish off the in-swinging ball into the box stood the test of time in the 1-0 result.
There were chances for both teams the rest of the match and the last 10 to 15 minutes the Impact amped up the pressure, resulting in good opportunities but they couldn't slot the equalizer.
Previous results this season against Springbank (3-1, 9 GF/3 GA) were 2-1 for the Impact and a 1-1 tie.
The eight-team tournament was divided into two pools and the Impact advance to the final with a 3-0 (6 GF/1 GA) record after pulling off a tight 2-1 win over Foothills FC 13 on Saturday afternoon.
Joseph Ndakala redirected a pass into the slot from Yanive Solomon with 11 minutes remaining for the go-ahead goal.
Ndakala started in net, but subbed off in the aftermath of a collision for the ball and was replaced by Cade Hawkins before the halfway mark of the first half.
“He came back in for us at striker because we were running out of bodies,” said head coach Kevin Jones. “Keepers often make good strikers.”
Solomon opened the scoring with a long chip shot over the goalkeeper late in the first half and Foothills answered 18 minutes after the break.
The Impact eventually wore down the back line of Foothills with Ndakala leading the charge in a rare stint at striker.
“The kids battled through injuries and (made it a) good competitive game. Foothills (4-1 as bronze medallists) is a very good side too,” Jones said. “Playing three games for both teams in 24 hours was a challenge for all the kids, so fatigue becomes part of that and the little knocks here and there but when they gave up the one, instead of sagging they found another gear so I was really proud of them for that, especially given all that circumstance against them.”
Leading up to the match, the Impact posted 2-0 decisions against the LFC Warriors (Indzeoski) and Juventus (Lechelt).
Solomon and Zidane Mwinyl finished with two goals apiece and Jaedon Newlands connected once.
A near-perfect Impact record that included a 15-0-1 (103 GF/10 GA) showing in the Edmonton Interdistrict Youth Soccer Association was a reflection of the SASA technical staff, as well as the players themselves, according to Jones.
“There is a lot of good talent on this group. They click together, they work hard together and they want to learn and want to understand the game, and that’s why they're so coachable. This is their first year playing 11-a-side so that’s the big change for them figuring out how to use the big field and the space,” said the SASA president. “They're also a good group of kids. They like hanging out together and playing together so the team chemistry is excellent.
“They’re also passionate about the game. They love to play.”
Provincial results
The U13 Tier I provincials at Riel Park included a fourth-place finish for the Impact (Valenzuela) females and sixth-place result for the Impact (Ashworth) males.
The Impact ladies lost 3-1 to SWU Premiers 06 (2-2, 13 GF/7 GA) in Sunday’s playoff for bronze after placing second at 2-0-1 (6 GF/4 GA) on the tiebreaker with Blizzard SC06 (2-0-1, 8GF/4 GA) in group two of the eight-team tournament.
The Impact and Blizzard settled for a 2-2 draw in Friday’s opener as Maya Tworek potted both goals.
Aryana Anderson scored against SWU.
The Impact also posted 2-1 outcomes against Sherwood Park Phoenix with Tworek and Clara Zubis netting goals and against the Red Deer Renegades as Tworek and Veronica Zubis paced the offence.
The Impact lads ended provincials with Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Juventus (Lechelt) in the fifth/sixth match and the team’s lone win was the come-from-behind 3-2 affair against Springbank SC, the eventual gold medallist, with a pair of late goals to complete the group one fixtures at 1-1-1 (7 GF/9 GA).
Goal scorers against Juventus (1-2-1, 5 GF/7 GA) were Mattheao Wright and Quinn Hoffman with his fourth of the tournament.
Atticus Meckley, Riley Begert, Stephen Wong and Conner Martel also chipped in with goals during pool play that included the 5-2 loss to Villains FC 06 and 2-2 stalemate with the Warriors (Obando).
