LAKELAND - An undefeated record at the Alberta Soccer Association tier 3 provincials over the weekend in Camrose has crowned the Lakeland FC U13 girls soccer team the provincial crown.
The Lakeland team is made up of players from the Bonnyville, Cold Lake, St. Paul, Lac La Biche and Vegreville areas.
The girls beat top teams from Edmonton, Calgary and the Foothills region to secure their gold medals, sweeping the four-game championship weekend, including the 1-0 gold-medal win over Edmonton's Viktoria Football Club on Sunday afternoon.
Lakeland teams in the U13, U15 and U17 division were in Camrose for the provincial championships.
Bronze for U17 boys
While the U13 girls won gold, the Lakeland U17 boys team fought for their bronze medal, shutting out the Foothills club 2-0 in the bronze medal match. The Spruce Grove Saints were the gold medal U17 boys champs, beating Edmonton's Terwillegar Riverbend in the finals.
On paper, the Lakeland's U17 girls seemed to have all the right numbers — they scored the most goals of any other team in their division, and they had the fewest scored against them. They even opened the championships with a 5-0 win over a Calgary team and won their final game with another shutout, beating Edmonton's Southwest United 4-0. But a 2-2 tie with the eventual gold-medal winning Edmonton Selects and a 3-1 loss to the Cochrane team in the middle two games of the championship weekend left the Lakeland squad with a fifth place finish in a very competitive grouping.
The Lakeland U13 boys won two and lost two over the championship weekend, including a 4-1 defeat to Edmonton's KC Trojans in the bronze medal match. The Lakeland team was one of 12 teams competing in the U13 boys category. The Viktoria Wolves from Edmonton won the U13 Tier 3 gold medal, going undefeated through the weekend.
Lakeland's U15 boys won two, tied one and lost to an Edmonton team in the bronze medal match to finish in fourth place of their 10-team championship division. Edmonton's Viktoria Wolves beat Calgary West to win the gold medal.
The provincial championship is the end-point of the minor soccer Tier 3 outdoor season.
