Kelowna United teams will be out in force this weekend in Kamloops challenging for their respective Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League titles.
United will field squads in the U13, U14, U15 and U16 divisions, in both boys and girls competition beginning Friday.
The championship finals in all divisions will go on Sunday afternoon at McArthur Island.
Kelowna girls teams will be vying for berths at the Provincial B Cup next month in Surrey, while the United boys will be looking to qualify for the Les Sinnott Memorial Provincial Cup in Vernon.
The U18 girls and boys playdowns are this week in Penticton, Kelowna and Vernon. Both United teams already have a spot in provincials.
A number of Junior Heat teams will also be in Kamloops for this week’s playdowns, while some Junior Heat teams have already qualified for the Provincial A championships in Surrey.
Here’s a look at some of last weekend’s action.
• U15 girls
Kelowna United (Greenhough) finished off the Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League season with a convincing 3-0 win over Shuswap Sunday at the Parkinson Rec Centre.
Ashley Eisenkrein connected for all three Kelowna goals, opening the scoring 10 minutes into the game, then adding two more in the second half. Tayshja Clark had to make a big save in the dying seconds of the game after a scramble in front of her net to preserve her shutout.
• U15 boys
The KU/Junior Heat wrapped up the regular season with a 7-1 win over rival Kelowna United. Junior Heat goals scored by Justin Matte, with four, Ethan Kersche (2) and Chris West. Kelowna United’s Gavin Lawlor made sure his team was on the score sheet with a perfectly executed penalty shot.
• U14 boys
KU/Junior Heat remained unbeaten this season with two more victories. On Saturday, June 4, Kelowna downed Penticton 4-0, with goals coming from Aaron Brears (2), Carson Martin and Pietro Arrigoni.
On June 5, Aaron Brears, Ethan Ramchuk, Carson Martin, Ethan De Kruif and Pietro Arrigoni scored in a 5-0 win over Kamloops. The goaltending of Zach Shields and Kaden Kiewitz has proven to be solid in the past three games allowing no goals by their opponents.
• U13 boys
The KU Warriors (Yann) close out the regular season, defeating Kamloops G 3-1. Bradley Neal, on a corner kick from Jack Millikin, Mikey Kraus and Nikhil Filatow, on a penalty kick, scored in the win for KU.
The United (Arruda) U13 boys edged Salmon Arm 1-0. Great goal keeping by Kelowna’s Damiano Poloni and Maxim Storozhuk’s goal was the difference.
•U13 girls
The KU/Junior Heat finished off the TOYSL regular season with back-to-back wins. On Saturday, KU/Heat defeated Kelowna United W 3-1, with Olivia Lawrie scoring twice and Tatum Grundy adding the insurance marker.
Then on Sunday, KU/Heat finished off the regular season with a 2-0 victory over Kelowna United C. Paige Keeley and Shae Taylor scored the goals as KU/Heat finished second in the regular season standings heading into the playdowns.