The 2002 St. Albert Impact were good as gold all season as the Alberta Soccer Association U17 Tier 2 champions.
Sunday’s 3-0 triumph over Blizzard SC 02 in the provincial final in Calgary capped off an undefeated stretch of 36 indoor and outdoor matches in league, tournament and provincial play for the Impact women.
Head coach Norm Odinga said the Impact played with pride and passion.
“The team dominated the games with possession and attacking play. When the ball was turned over, the players worked hard to regain possession and did not allow many goals to be scored against,” said Odinga, noting the Impact suffered a few ties in the outdoor and indoor fixtures.
The Impact rolled through provincials with three shutouts in four wins while finding the back of the net 12 times.
Sarah Weremczuk, Skylar Weinstein, Sarah Hay and Abby Elgert scored in the 4-0 decision against Saints (Stroud) to kick off the tournament.
Weinstein, Hay, Sadie Vogel and Kiersten Girard potted goals in the 4-3 decision against Foothills 02 DA, the eventual bronze medallists.
Vogel did the damage offensively in the 1-0 outcome against Victoria to close out the pool one round robin.
Weremczuk, Elgert and Carmen Borrelli tallied in the final as Chloe Eaton registered the Impact’s third clean sheet at provincials.
The core of the Impact’s roster – Ava Bourbonnais, Kelli Haffie, Isabelle Martinez and Anneke Odinga – has been with the team throughout appearances in the U12 Tier 1 final (lost 1-0 to Edmonton Inter), U14 Tier 1 final (lost 2-0 to Calgary Foothills) and the U17 Tier 2 (16-year-olds) final.
Leading up to provincials, the Impact were victorious in the top U16 division at the Ottawa Champions Showcase at 4-0 (14 GF/4 GA) the weekend before the eight-team tournament.
The Impact were also the No. 1 team in the Edmonton Interdistrict Youth Soccer Association U17 Tier 2 division at 11-0-1 (40 GF/8 GA).
“The players have trained several years with consistent principles of play with a focus on attacking soccer with possession rather than the predominant physical and kick and run style that most Canadian youth teams play,” said Odinga, this year’s recipient of the President’s Award from the Canadian Soccer Association. “For many coaches, it’s easier to focus on the physical aspect and have success at an earlier age, but as a team gets older the more technical and skilful team will be more effective and dominate the physical and kick and run style team.
“It’s a marathon rather than a sprint.”
The Impact lineup, which includes some 2003 players, has provided call-ups for the Impact women’s teams in the Edmonton District Soccer Association and a number of players will reinforce the Impact 1 (Spaidal), the second-place finisher in the EDSA premier division, at the Tier 1 senior provincials, Aug. 31 to Sept. 3 in Calgary.
CORNER KICKS: The Impact (O’Neill) U13 boys and U15 Impact (Toope) girls were silver medallists at last weekend’s Tier 3 provincials.
Scores in the finals were 5-2 for Lakeland against U13 Impact and 1-0 for Blizzard Alliance 04 against U15 Impact.
The semifinal results were 6-0 for U13 Impact against Rangers Royals 05 and 3-1 for U15 Impact against Blizzard Avalanche.
