Submitted by:
Angela Mullin
Written by: Craig Zamzow
This spring the Dauphin Soccer Association and Swan Valley Youth Soccer joined forces to enter a team in the Manitoba Soccer Association Regional Festival.
Click any picture for a larger version.
As each Association season ended a team was created to begin practicing and also played the Parkland U14 Girls team (competing in the 2016 Manitoba Games) to a 2-2 draw.
On July 23 and 24, 2016 they participated at the Regional Festival in Portage La Prairie.
On Saturday morning they played Nelson House on a soggy field.
The rain let up, and coaches Aaron Miner and Angela Mullin had the boys storming out of the gates. The boys carried the play early, and after exhibiting some great ball movement and open-field speed, Ethan Everette setup Jackson Delaurier to open the scoring.
Joey Reiche doubled the Parkland lead before halftime converting an Alexander Tomkins pass.
Wyatt Rose scored early in the second half after receiving a pass from Ethan Everett, seemingly putting the game away.
However, a tenacious Nelson House team showed some heart with a nice goal to cut the lead to 3-1, and then a laser of a free kick found the top corner to tighten the game in the last 5 minutes cutting the lead to a single goal.
In the final minute a Nelson House striker burst down the side for the tying goal. Keeper Kieran Maksymchuk surprised him as he aggressively approached and cut down the angle. The ball carrier was forced into a last second cross-crease pass attempt that was thwarted by Parkland defenders Jett Cook and Dax Mullin. Parkland United held on for an opening 3-2 victory.
Saturday afternoon they would face Westman. Parkland took a 2-1 lead into halftime after Owen Chubka converted a William Miner setup and Wyatt Rose finished a feed from Jack Mullin.
In the second half the Westman team would score 4 unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory.
Sunday morning would see a rematch vs Westman. With both teams familiar with each other, the intensity picked up as did the quality of play. It was a hard fought battle but Westman did prevail by a score of 3-1. Owen Chubka scored the lone Parkland goal after corralling a long clear from keeper Kieran Maksymchuk and converting on the opportunity.
The Manitoba Soccer Association short listed 7 Parkland players for the Player of Distinction game including Jackson Delaurier, William Miner, Dax Mullin, Jack Mullin, Joey Reiche, Wyatt Rose, and Dakota Sturmer. Delaurier and Reiche were selected to participate.
Parkland United FC U11 Boys
Pictured above: (L to R) Rhett Tkachyk, Owen Chubka, Dax Mullin, Dakota Sturmer, Ethan Everett, Alexander Tomkins, Joey Reiche, Jackson Delaurier, Jett Cook, Wyatt Rose, William Miner, Jack Mullin, and Kieran Maksymchuk.
The boys had a great weekend and are hopeful 2017 will provide more opportunities for this Parkland partnership.