The Yorkton United Chelsea boys team travelled to Regina on Saturday to take part in the Regina Soccer Associations Premier league cup competition.
Chelsea drew the UCT Lightning in its first game.
The Lightning are currently third in the top Regina league. Chelsea started strong and an excellent passing play right from kickoff almost led to a goal. Both teams settled in with Chelsea keeping most of the possession but the Lightning taking a number of shots from longer distances.
Halfway through the first half, Zac McGrisken scored Yorkton's first goal by jumping on a long throw in from Nathan Cochrane. Chelsea started to dominate play and were rewarded when Derek Campbell stripped the last Lightning defender of the ball and scored on a breakaway.
Coach Andy Wyatt comments: "That first half was probably the best we played all year." The Lightning pushed to try and get back into the game but the Yorkton defence were up to the task and besides one or two good scoring chances they held strong in their back end and only gave up long shots which were easily handled by the Zach Shearer.
Part way through the second half, Matthew Mandziuk scored on a well taken free kick and the score ended 3-0 for Yorkton United Chelsea, says coach Wyatt points out.
"I was really impressed with our defence this game. Stephen Oleskiw, Nathan Cochrane, Spencer Steele and Matthew Mandziuk stopped the Regina team on almost every occasion". Chelsea advances to the semi-finals of the Cup competition and next plays July 9 in this playoff format.
On Sunday, Chelsea played two league games as part of the Regina Premier League. The first game was against QC United.
Chelsea started strong and the game was back and forth for the first half with the score being 3-2 for QC at half.
The final score was 7-2 for QC. Goal scorers were Austin Thomas and Zac McGrisken.
The final game of the weekend was against the UCT Lightning. Confidence was running high for Yorkton Chelsea based on their win from the previous day but once again, the travel and prior game had an effect on Chelsea's game. It was a tight first half with Yorkton once again giving up a lot of shots from afar but maintaining some possession and solid passing. Jaret Porte scored for Chelsea on a corner kick to tie the game up at 1 -1.
The second half was disappointing and Chelsea ended up losing the game 5-2. Coach Wyatt points out: "The better team won the game".
