The St. Albert Impact 2 men started their division 1A season with a loss Monday in the Edmonton District Soccer Association.
Mark McQuaid scored the only Impact goal in the 3-1 win by a young AC Milan squad at the Riel Park turf field.
Impact keeper Allister Latham-Rubic also stopped two penalty kicks in the second half.
Last year the Impact 2 (7-1-5) finished second in league play. At tier II provincials they were awarded silver after going 1-1-1 in the four-team round robin.
Two of the very best players from the St. Albert Rugby Football Club to play internationally competed in the British Columbia Rugby Union premier men’s semifinal Saturday at Windsor Park in Victoria.
Kyle Gilmour, a flanker with the Castaway Wanderers, and University of Victoria Vikes’ prop Andy Tiedemann showcased their talents in the 38-18 win by the Wanderers.
The Wanderers will now scrum down against the Meralomas this Saturday for the Rounsefell Cup provincial championship. The Vikes won it last year.
In the semifinal clash, the Wanderers led 14-13 at halftime. Tiedemann scored a try in the second half.
Canadian World Cup team selectors were also at the match scouting players for the 2011 championship this fall in New Zealand.
Tiedemann currently has eight caps playing for Canada. The high school rugby product of the Paul Kane Blues is expected to play in his third-straight Churchill Cup next month in England.
Gilmour made the Canadian sevens’ team this year at International Rugby Board events in New Zealand and Las Vegas. Last year the Edmonton Rugby Union player of the year in 2009 was a starter with the Calgary-based Prairie Wolf Pack, finalists at the Canadian Rugby Championship. The former high school standout with the St. Albert Skyhawks also helped St. Albert win its first-ever premier men’s provincial championship.
The Northwest Hawks, with 11 players in the St. Albert female hockey program on their roster, finished fifth at the U16 Team Alberta Challenge in Fort Saskatchewan.
In the C final Sunday, the Hawks defeated the Central Lightning 6-1 to finish 2-3 in the six-team tournament.
Representing the bantam AAA Raiders on the Hawks were defencemen Abigail Benning, Maia Bouchard-Jenkins and Morgan Loroff and forwards Kennedy Bozak, Jenna Jewel, Trisha Lakeman, Megan Lalor, Eva Lovsin and Kennedy Newton.
The team also consisted of Autumn Rae, a defenceman with the midget A Rush and forward Karly Heffernan of the midget AAA Slash.
