The Yorkton United Storm Under 10 Boys team travelled to Saskatoon to take part in the Harder Avalon Classic Soccer tournament June 3-to-5.
The Storm’s first game was against a team from Swift Current Friday night.
The Storm started off strong and were up 3 - 0 in the first six-minutes of the game with a hat trick scored by Noah Wyatt.
The scoring continued and the Yorkton team was up 8-0 at half-time.
In the second half the Yorkton coach moved the players into different positions and the game ended 10-0.
The other scorers for Yorkton were Parker McDowell with three-goals, Nathan Mushanski with two and Sam Patel and Chase Batke with one apiece.
The second game had the Storm playing Saskatoon Aurora. Aurora had won their previous game 10-0 so it was expected to be a close game.
The Yorkton Storm came out firing again and controlled the game from beginning to end winning 8 - 3.
Goal scorers were Wyatt, McDowell and Mushanski each with two, and Patel and Jack Puckett with singles.
The final round robin game was against Northern Internazionale, a team based out of Melfort.
Once again Yorkton’s team was ready to play and dominated the game winning 7-2.
As assistant coach Katherine McDowell stated, “Our boys played hard throughout the round robin and never really found themselves in trouble.
“Our defence was fantastic led by Nick Looft and T.J. Lawale. Liam Gervais, Easton Szysky and Xander Thompson also helped keep the ball out of our net with their hussle and agressiveness.”
With a 3-0 record the Storm found themselves in the semi-final to play Saskatoon Aurora once again.
Coach Andy Wyatt mentioned, “Aurora were missing a few players during the round robin game so we felt we probably would be in for a tougher game in the semi’s”.
Wyatt was right for the first half but in the second half, Yorkton pulled away with superior passing and team defence and ended up winning 6 - 2.
Goal scorers were Wyatt and McDowell with two apiece and Mushanski and Puckett adding singles.
In the final, Yorkton faced a strong team from Prince Albert. The game started with Yorkton controlling the possession and playing most of the first half in P.A.s end of the field but couldn’t convert on the scoring chances. P.A. finished the half strong but also couldn’t find the back of the net.
In the second half, the game was back and forth but the Storm broke the deadlock when Mushanski set up Wyatt for the opening goal.
Soon after Mushaski put one in on his own to give the Storm breathing room that it ended up needing.
Prince Albert scored late to make the game interesting but Yorkton goalie Jack Puckett held strong and Yorkton ended up winning the final 2-1.
Coach Wyatt said, “It was a great experience for our boys to play in a close game in the final. P.A. worked hard and did a good job slowing down our skill and passing. The boys kept playing hard though and pushed through and were rewarded with the gold medal.”
