ST. PAUL - It was a busy weekend of soccer in St. Paul from July 5-7 as the community hosted this year's Tier 4 Rural Provincial championship, welcoming over 800 soccer players to town.
Several of the competing teams came from the Lakeland region, including five St. Paul teams playing on their home fields. A total of 48 boys' and girls' teams in the U13 to U19 age categories took part.
"The [St. Paul Soccer Association] board put in many hours of work planning for this, and we believe it was a huge success - and we're grateful for the nice weather," said SPSA president Jennifer Graham, as the busy weekend wrapped up. Graham was also a coach of the U13 girls' team that competed throughout the weekend.
"We want to thank all of our sponsors for their generosity, and the volunteers for showing up and helping out, as we couldn't have pulled it off without them," added Graham. She offered congratulations to all the teams that participated, noting, "There was a lot of great and thrilling soccer played in all age categories at the St. Paul Lions Soccer FIelds."
Lakeland teams earning gold medals include, the U19 boys' Lakeland United team, which was made up of players from across the region, the U17 girls from Bonnyville, and the U17 boys from Bonnyville - who also earned a fair play award.
Earning silver medals were the U19 Cold Lake girls, the U17 St. Paul boys, and the U15 Vegreville girls.
Earning bronze medals were the U17 girls from St. Paul, the U15 boys from Bonnyville, and the U13 boys from St. Paul - who also earned a fair play award.
Also competing from the Lakeland District were the U15 girls from Bonnyville, the U19 girls from Vegreville, the U13 boys from Bonnyville, the U13 girls from St. Paul, the U13 girls from Cold Lake, the U15 boys from Vegreville and the U15 boys from St. Paul.