Malcolm McCutcheon
Nelson Star
This past weekend the U13 girls Nelson Selects soccer team travelled across the border to the Coeur d’Alene Hot Shot Tournament to take on some American competition, finishing in second place.
Playing five games in two days proved to be a good test for the team as they used the tournament to prepare for their upcoming matches.
“It was their first tournament of the year and they played some strong American sides. This is the first year the girls will have a chance to go to provincials so this tournament was good preparation for that,” said head coach Rob Borhi.
The Selects finished first in their group with a 2-0 win against the CDA Sting and a 3-1 win over FC Missoula.
The girls’ only loss in group play was a 2-1 defeat that came from the Wenatchee Fire.
With two wins and a single loss the Selects moved onto the semi final on Sunday afternoon.
The locals defeated the Missoula Strikers 1-0.
On Sunday evening the Selects took to the pitch for the final game against The Academy Idaho and were narrowly defeated 2-1.
“Our team scored in every single game, and we had two shutouts. We lost our goalie the day before the tournament, but they responded well over the weekend despite that,” commented Borhi.
The team, which normally has a roster of 18 players, added six new players to the squad this season.
“The team found every single game they played to be challenging. We have six new players who didn’t play rep soccer last season and we have the Terry Walgren Tournament in two weeks, so this was good preparation,” said Borhi.
Goal scorers on the weekend were Amreesa Bhabra, Michaela Anderson, Reece Hunt, Sophie Borhi, and Taylor Harrison, who were all solid in their positions.
Playing strong roles on defence were Elisabeth Huiberts, Mimi Lockhurst, Shayla Elias, Amanda Creak, and Sierra Jones.
Ashley Caponero, Rylee Zondervan, Alex Pompu, Bryce Winters and Sophie Edney performed well in both attacking and defensive play.
The squad’s regular goaltender, Camryn Parnell ,was injured just before the tournament, so a number of players rotated through the goaltender position, with special mention to Creak and Caponero for strong performances.