By Tyrone Laskey
Another week of South Cariboo Minor Soccer Association (SCMSA) action has wrapped up, with many tired players jumping right back into league play following the U10 and U13 invitational tournament which took place May 3–5.
The weather couldn’t have been any better for the weekend. Eight U10 teams were entered, along with 12 U13 teams, and matches were played on four different soccer fields at the Ashcroft Pool Park and on the field at the HUB.
Out of town teams that joined SCMSA teams for the tournament included those from Barriere, Clearwater, and Merritt. It’s such a boost for the local businesses in the community, as many eat, shop, and stay when any tournament or event happens locally, and the invitational was no different. A lot of hot dogs, hamburgers, and cold drinks were sold on both Saturday and Sunday. All of the tournament organizers should be proud for running such a successful weekend.
In the U10 division, Merritt came out as tournament champions, followed by Barriere in second and Ashcroft’s Haver & Boeker finishing third. In the U13 division, Clearwater was the winning team. Merritt finished in second place, with Ashcroft’s Interior Savings coming in third. Along with the great action came a lot of sportsmanship from all 20 teams.
The tournament had a little extra emotion added to it this year. Tom Watson, who was very involved with SCMSA for many years, recently passed away. Tom was a league executive, coach, referee, and any other type of volunteer you could be in the league for well over 20 years.
SCMSA did a few things during the tournament to honour Tom, starting with having all players and officials on all fields during the first game of the day on Saturday take a knee for a moment of silence. It was an amazing sight to see
The league will be renaming one of the bursaries that it hands out to a Desert Sands student after Tom. Finally, this great invitational tournament will now be renamed the Tom Watson Invitational Tournament.
League President Lee Hand Says to watch for more things to come this season to honour the man who will always be remembered for a couple of his great soccer quotes: “Take a knee” and “There is no walking in soccer.”
Here are the league results for games on May 6 and 8.
Monday, May 6
U10
Kal Tire (Ashcroft) vs. Bri Stone (Lillooet): 0-4
Cayuse Flats (Lillooet) vs. Lillooet Lions (played in Lillooet): 5-0
Haver & Boeker (Ashcroft) vs. Logan Lake: 3-2
U16
River Inn (Ashcroft) vs. Logan Lake: 4-7
Lillooet vs. Lytton Guardians (played in Lytton): 5-1
Wednesday, May 8
U7 (scores are not recorded in this division)
Bear’s Claw Lodge vs. Lytton
Daka Ventures (Ashcroft) vs. Logan Lake (played in Logan Lake)
Driver Take Home (Ashcroft) vs. Lillooet (played in Lillooet)
U13
Second Time Around (Ashcroft) vs. Blake Bolster Realty (Clinton): 6-2
Interior Savings (Ashcroft) vs. Winner’s Edge (Lillooet) (played in Lillooet): 5-0
A&W (Lillooet) vs. Lytton Heat (played in Lytton): 0-6
editorial@accjournal.ca
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