THE PAIN AND PRIDE OF THE PLAY-OFFS
PRIDE OF THE CAPERS....the U13s Girls BACK ROW (left to right) Isla MacInnis, Talia Cordoba, Macey MacPherson, Georgia Al-Khouri, Annie Gibbons, Evelyn Power, Claire Kaupp, Haven Brown, Avery Kelloway, Coach Iain King. FRONT ROW (left to right) Allie MacInnis, Mya Boudreau, Claire Kelloway, Zoe Watson, Rory Stockley, Rachel Doyle, Brooklyn Morley, Emma-Jean Power.
CAPERS ACADEMY U17AAA GIRLS bowed out of NSSL Provincials in the Final four after a 1-1 tie in regulation time in Halifax on Saturday evening against Inter Halifax.
Charley Sawlor's 11th goal of the season counted for the CAPERS but the teams couldn't be separated and it went to a shootout that the island girls narrowly lost.
It was the final game of an excellent season for the team who also finished runners-up in the NSSL Cup Final where they were edged out by Suburban FC.
Meanwhile, back home at Ness Timmons Field in a superb and hotly contested U13AA Girls Provincial Championship hosted by Soccer Cape Breton, the CAPERS Academy girls were in with a big shout of making the Final in a deciding match with United DFC in the round robin but lost out 2-0 in a fine margins match-up.
That sent them into a Bronze medal match with Halifax City and they stormed two up through Talia Cordoba and Evelyn Power's 30th goal of a superb season for the highly-rated striker.
City, though, twice showed their excellence from set pieces to equalise off corners and once more the fate of a CAPERS team was on spot-kicks.
This time the girls were superb under pressure and Power, Zoe Watson, Claire Kaupp and then match-winner Macey MacPherson were all successful from the spot to pull off a 4-2 shootout win and secure the Bronze medal.
Regional Director of Soccer Development Iain King, who stood in for Head Coach Deano Morley as he was on Men's Soccer duties with CBU, said: "It shows how far these girls and the Academy have come that the girls were so disappointed not to be in the Final.
"They have had a superb season, winning TWO brackets in the WC Royals Tournament on PEI, then finishing third overall in the Province.
"We are thrilled with their progress and look forward to see what a force many of them will be with our established 15s team next summer.
"We were delighted to win the right to host the Soccer Nova Scotia Final four and it was a brilliant bracket with tight, high-quality games all weekend."
That was reflected in the 13s Final that was won by Suburban FC on PKs after a 1-1 tie with United DFC.
Soccer Cape Breton would like to thank SNS Tournament Organiser Melanie MacKinnon and our own superb event staff Lisa Lavery and Angela Bresson for all their help in staging a quality event this weekend. We would also like to acknowledge champions Suburban FC and all our visiting players, coaches and parents for being a part of a tournament played in the right spirit with so much talent on show.
The U13s Girls division this year has been a classy competition filled with so many top prospects and we feel it got a fitting finale on the island.
