The Nelson U14 Girls Selects attended the Bill Eisenwinter Tournament in Coeur D’Alene last weekend and came away with a silver medal.
The squad was undefeated in Pool B and narrowly lost the championship game against the talented Glacier United side from Montana.
In their first game, Nelson defeated Columbia Valley by an impressive score of 7-0 with goals coming from seven different players. Maddie Sternloff, Lakpa Dietz, Camille Gebhart, Darian Voisard, Naomi Perkins, Bronwyn Sutherland and Allie Zondervan all tallied goals. Haley Cooke was solid between the pipes to earn the shutout.
The Nelson girls continued their winning streak by posting a 4-1 victory against the Pumas from Washington. Zondervan opened the scoring with the lone goal in the first half. Voisard had an outstanding game, scoring three goals in the second half including a spectacular header from a cross delivered by Perkins.
In their last pool game, the Selects secured the top spot in by defeating the Great Falls Thunderbolts 2-0. Perkins scored both goals — one in each half — to take the Nelson squad to the championship match.
Nelson faced the very strong Glacier United squad the gold medal match on Sunday evening. Glacier United opened the scoring and led 2-0 midway through the first half. The Nelson squad battled back hard and Perkins found the back of the net to bring the game to 2-1 at the half. The second half saw good opportunities by both sides, but Glacier United was able to convert and scored once more to win the game with a final tally of 3-1.
“This tournament was very much a team effort, with a solid performance from players in every position on the field,” said Selects co-coach Pat Perkins. “Solid defending and good possession of the ball created many scoring opportunities giving the squad a well-deserved trip to the championship game.”
Also taking home a silver medal from Coeur D’Alene weekend were the U16 Boys Selects.
The boys won their first game against Helena Arsenal in a close match that was decided when Ryan Lewis scored the game winner.
In the squad’s second game against Flathead, the Nelson side dominated the game with ball possession for 95 per cent of the match. Despite the solid effort, only one goal was scored in the Nelson win.
In the final round-robin game the U16s were forced to play with only 10 players after a red card was handed out. Despite being short handed the Nelson side won to finish pool play with an unblemished record.
In the final the locals came up a very experienced host team and lost to Coeur D’Alene 2-0.
The team’s coaching staff gave special mention to substitute keeper Michael Viala who pneumonia but still managed to put together a stellar weekend.