After rainy weather cancelled season openers the previous week, Kelowna United/Junior Heat teams kicked off the Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League campaign on April 8 and 9.
Here’s a recap of some of the action.
• U15 boys
KU/Junior Heat 3 Kamloops Blaze 0—The KU/Junior Heat U15 Boys hosted Kamloops and won convincingly with a 3-0 finish. Goals by Justin Matte, Miguel Ambrosio and Austin King with strong goalkeeping by Brennan Martin.
KU/Junior Heat 7 Vernon 0—On Sunday, the boys played at home and recorded a solid win and a second clean sheet of the season for keeper Brennan Martin. Chris West, on a penalty shot, and a great header by Ethan Kersche made it 2-0 at the half. The second half saw goals by West, Tyson Douangpanya, Justin Matte and a pair by Miguel Ambrosio.
• U13 boys
Kelowna United V 0 Shuswap 2—It was an even match, but an unfortunate pass awarded the first goal to Shuswap well into the game. With the KU boys unable able to get the ball out of the box, Shuswap took another chance and scored their second goal. Despite great goal scoring opportunities, the KU boys had to take a 2-0 defeat.
Kelowna United V 1 Kamloops 0—The KU boys came out strong, more focused and communicated with each other. and were awarded a 1-0 lead at half time. Kamloops put pressure on in the second half to score the equalizer, but Kelowna held on to their lead and even had a close second scoring opportunity, but were denied by good Kamloops defensive work.
• U13 girls
KU/Junior Heat 1 Kelowna United Thunder 2—The first half started off strong with the Heat team scoring in the first 10 minutes after a rebound goal by Teghan McCormick from a saved shot on net by Olivia Lawrie. Kaedence Mollin from U13 Thunder scored in the second half with a finesse shot, with the final goal delivered by Thunder’s Paris Kirk on a semi-breakaway, assisted by Kaedence Mollin.
• U12 boys
Kelowna United Cobras vs Shuswap—The KU Cobras had a striking start to the season versus Shuswap. The passes were crisp, teamwork and organization to the fore and the defense tight leading to a first win for the team.
Kelowna United Cobras U12 vs Kelowna United R—The game was a tight and well fought game which ended in a one goal defeat for the Cobras. A bit of fatigue combined with the freshness of the opposition who had a bye, saw some tired legs but gave their all to the very end.
• U12 girls
Kelowna United SWAT vs Salmon Arm V—The girls elected to focus as a team on defensive skills with pressure on the attacker. For the most part they were successful. Passing and receiving also was a strong point.
Kelowna United SWAT vs Kamloops S—Game 2 was a good learning experience playing against a strong team. The group elected to work on passing and focused on fist touch, using space and hustle.