Kelowna United U15 Girls Bring Home the Gold!

4 of the 6 KU Teams that qualified for the Provincials were successful in bringing home medals this past weekend!  The girls were in action here in Kelowna while the U18 Boys travelled to Aldergrove for the weekend. The weather was sunny and hot and the action was equally hot as the teams battled it out over the 4 days of play.  When the dust cleared, the KU15 Girls had netted the Gold while the U13Girls picked up the Silver and the U18 boys and girls captured the bronze.

Kelowna United U15 Girls win Gold at Provincials

KU15G Win Gold (image courtesy of AAA Photography)

Thursday, July 5th saw the start of play in the Provincial tournament with the KU U15 girls up against Terrace Kermodies. KU dominated play and contained most of the play in their own half. KU took the lead early on with a superb goal from Kiana Ajamzadeh who added a second a few minutes later. A lapse in concentration gave Terrace a chance to score which they capitalized on. The KU team regrouped and added 2 more goals from Emma Johnson another by Kiana Ajamzadeh and Brianne Mapson and an own goal which was deflected off a Terrace defender. Final Score   7-1 for KU

Friday the KU team were up against the #1 seeded Ladner Vipers. Ladner took the early lead from a through ball. It wasn’t long before KU were back on track with a great shot from Lindsay Lalach. In the second half the superb defending by Krisztina Breti, Meghan Gerein, Jenna Labossiere, Jazlyn Lazar, Hayley Slade and Abbey Nyberg gave Ladner little scoring opportunities. KU’s Amber Hilts, Emma Johnson and Lindsay Lalach added a goal each in the second half. Final Score   4-1 for KU

Saturday had the KU team up against Vernon and 1 minute into the game KU were in the lead when Kiana Ajamzadeh scored. Midfielders Jaedyn Penkala, Lindsay Lalach, Kelsey Slattery, Brianne Mapson, Bailey Peissard, Kelsey Slattery controlled the game and dominated the midfield. Bailey Peissard added a second and with a minute left in the first half Vernon pulled one back. KU pushed hard to increase their lead and were rewarded when Jaedyn Penkala scored with a header. Emma Johnson added another in the dying seconds.
Final score  4-1 for  KU

Sunday, July 8th –  Final
KU were up against CMFSC Black Ice from Coquitlam in the Finals. Both teams came out strong and fought hard to gain possession. Through sheer grit and determination the KU team were able to take the lead with an early goal from Emma Johnson. A breakaway saw the CMFSC Black Ice team tie the game just before half time. In second half play KU had most of the possession and continued to mount pressure with some very close misses. Eventually their constant pressure paid off when Emma Johnson scored her second goal. Goalkeepers Rebecca Barkley and Avery Watson had some superb saves to keep their team ahead, doing their part to assist the team to become BC Soccer Provincial winners.
Final score 2-1 for KU

Kelowna United U13 Girls – Silver
Coaches Brenda Dickie and Brian Dewar
Manager Laura Schwinghamer
Thursday – July 5
Kelowna United vs Saanich Fusion
Sannich the number one seed Coastal Cup Champions coming into the Provincials started off the scoring 9 minutes into the game.  Both teams came out strong with Kelowna dominating the play in part way through the first half.
Kelowna came out on fire in the second half with a goal by Danika Lee assisted by Payton Lewis-Brisco 2 mins into the second half.  Kelowna strong passing and pressure got them their second goal 16mins later scored by Payton Lewis-Brisco assisted by Danika Lee.  With 6 minutes left Courtney Gunn put Kelowna ahead with a score of 3-1 on a penalty kick.  Sannich put on the extra push to come back with only minutes left in the game, Saanich was able to squeak a second goal past Kelowna’s goalie Fiona Reha.  Kelowna defeated the number 1 seed in the Provincials with a final score of 3-2.
Friday –  July 6
Kelowna United vs Terrace Kermodies
Kelowna United came out strong with 8 goals in the first half.
Goal scorers

1. Courtney Piessard assisted by Madison Dickie and Brianna Tataryn
2. Danika Lee assisted by Kyra McNulty and Brianna Tataryn
3. Angelia Ostrom assisted by Danika Lee
4. Danika Lee assisted by Courtney Gunn
5. Payton Lewis-Brisco
6. Angelia Ostrom assisted by Mackenzie Schwinghamer
7. Payton Lewis-Brisco (header) assisted by Mackenzie Schwinghamer
8. Kyra McNulty

In the second half Kelowna United scored their 9^th goal by Courtney Piessard assisted by Payton Lewis-Brisco.  Terrace found the back of Kelowna keepers Hannah Allan’s net with 4 mins left in the game.  Final score Kelowna United 9, Terrace 1

KU13G win Silver (image courtesy of AAA Photography)

Saturday – July 7
Kelowna United vs Penticton Pinnacles
Penticton Pinnacles came into the Provincials as the Thompson Okanagan #1 team.  Throughout this year there has been competition between these two U13 teams.  Pre-season tournament and 1^st regular season game Penticton beat KU.  Kelowna then came back and took their next match up.  These 2 teams met again for a final time in regular season in their Playdown finals with Penticton defeating Kelowna United 2-1.
Both teams had the adrenaline running coming into today’s game.  Kelowna started off the scoring 11 mins into the game by a left foot from Madison Dickie assisted by Courtney Gunn.   Penticton in turn came back and tied up the score 1-1.  With 1 minute left in the first half Kelowna pulled ahead 2-1 with a goal by Danika Lee, assisted by Paige Krivoshein.
Second half both teams came out strong and Penticton tied it up again getting past the strong goal tending of Fiona Reha.  Both team kept on the pressure, Kelowna got their winning goal from Angelia Ostrom, assisted by Danika Lee.

Sunday – July 8
Kelowna United vs CCB United
Both teams came out strong.  Kelowna’s keeper saved many shots from CCB United striker, including a penalty kick ending the half at CCB United 2 and Kelowna United 0.
Kelowna kept up the pressure in the second half but was unable to penetrate the CCB Goalie who was not scored on in the tournament.
Kelowna United was defeated 5-0 by CCB United.  Kelowna United had a great season to earn them silver in to BC Girls Provincials.

Kelowna United U18 Girls – Bronze
The U18 girls all performed very well under the extreme heat. They finished with 2 wins and 2 ties to finish third overall. They were in every game they played and deserved the right to be in the final. They controlled the play against  Gorge FC in their 1st game but only came out with a tie. The second game ended in thrilling fashion with CCB Elite scoring late in extra time. KU responded only a minute later to tie it up before the final whistle blew. Game three was against Shuswap which was also a tight affair where KU came out on top after Zoe Athens capitalized on a penalty shot.  The final game saw KU take on the Kootenays in another close game with a free kick being the difference in a one goal victory.

KU18G win Bronze (image courtesy of AAA Photography)

Kelowna United U18 Boys – Bronze
Kelowna United U18 Boys brought home a Bronze medal from the Provincials held in Aldergrove, BC this past weekend.  This third place finish in the province capped off a great season for these boys.  Play results were a 3 to 1 win against Terrace, 3 nothing loss to North Vancouver FC Fury and a 6 to 1 win over Aldergrove United.  The final game was against Prince George where we they won 1 nil and captured the 3^rd place finish.  Fabulous soccer, great weather and entertaining games for the entire 4 days.  For some of the boys, this will be their final game in the Kelowna United uniform as they move on to college and university. These 18 year olds include Austin Axenty, Tanner Brown, Ryan Kaila, Kyle Kannan and keeper Michael Willis.  The remaining squad and fellow team mates are Alex Beutle, Sam Bowers, Riley Carlson, Brodie Krepps (unable to attend), Keevin Lee, Spencer Loyd, Chris Macdonnell, Jesse Nanci, Braden Peters, Chris Pires, Jordan Powers, Quintin Torresan, and Hayden Ward.  Outstanding play by all and their hard work and determination proved invaluable.  The spirit and team work of the boys was phenomenal.  Well done boys!

KU18 Boys win Bronze