The Yorkton United Under 18/16 girls team attended the Saskatoon Sisco Premier Division soccer tournament on January 17-19.
Highly regarded as the top Premier division soccer tournament in the province. This girls team, which is a mixture of U18 and U16 aged players has been very successful in the U18 Division 2 tournaments this season, entered the Premier division at the Sisco tournament to play against a higher caliber of competition.
The first game was against Regina Unidad. Both teams came out tentative in the beginning but Yorkton was able to open the scoring on a goal by Rita Fetsch. Yorkton went on to record a 5-1 victory with Rita Fetsch scoring 4 goals and Kendra Varjassy adding a single.
The second game of the tournament was against a very strong Saskatoon Eastside Vortex club. This game seen some excellent soccer displayed by both clubs with Yorkton taking a 2-0 lead on two goals from Rita Fetsch.
Saskatoon came back early in the second half and tied the game with 2 quick tallies. Darrian Desjarlais was able to restore the lead for Yorkton with Rita Fetsch adding an insurance marker for a 4-2 Yorkton victory.
The final round game would decide the final standings in the pool. Yorkton faced a very physical Saskatoon Aurora club. This game was tied at 0 at half time. Saskatoon opened the scoring early in the second half which seemed to spark the United club. Rita Fetsch tied the game at 1, with Darrian Desjarlais and Canyon Desjarlais scoring goals a few minutes apart to give Yorkton a quick 3-1 lead. Rita Fetsch tacked on two more goals for a 5-1 final. With the victory Yorkton received a bye to the gold medal Final.
The Championship pitted the Yorkton club up against the Saskatoon Eastside Vortex, in a rematch of the round robin meeting in which the YUFC won 4-2. This game was an exciting back and forth game that seen both clubs display an exceptional brand of soccer. With the score deadlocked at 0-0 in the second half, Rita Fetsch was able to open the scoring on a set piece free kick to the top corner that gave the Yorkton side a massive boost and a 1-0 lead over Saskatoon. The fast pace continued with both teams pushing for the next goal, with Kendra Varjassy finding the twine and giving Yorkton a 2-0 lead.
The stingy Yorkton defenders and strong goal tending of Kristen Jonassen were able to shut the door and Yorkton claimed the gold medal with a 2-0 victory in a thrilling fashion.
"This tournament was very competitive and our team met every challenge they were faced with. I am very proud of each and every player on this team and look forward to the Provincial Cham-pion-ships," said Head Coach Alfredo Bermudez.
