BEDFORD, N.S. – The Northern Nova United Falcons U17 girls team claimed silver this past weekend at the Bruce Wagner Memorial Soccer Tournament, hosted by the Sackville United Soccer Association.
Coach Zachary Langlois says the silver medal is quite an accomplishment because the team, which plays at the B level, competed in the A division due to a lack of teams at their own level. “A big thank you to the girls for a hard-fought weekend. They should be very proud of walking away with a silver medal in an A division tournament. That's pretty amazing, to say the least.”
Victoria Dunn scored the team’s only goal on a breakaway in their opening game against Central FC, to win 1-0. Megan MacKenzie, who took over net-minding duties when keeper KJ Emery left the game due to injury, was player of the game.
NNU lost 1-0 to United DFC in their second game of the tournament, with United scoring on a penalty kick. Jenny Ferrara was named player of the game for filling in as keeper.
The third round-robin game – against Western Valley – ended in a 2-2 tie. MacKenzie scored on a through ball from the centre midfields, which she ran past the defenders and scored on a breakaway. Georgia Murray was named player of the game for her assist on the second goal of the game. After putting hard pressure on a Western Valley defender, she got possession of the ball, then crossed it over to Dunn, who was wide open and capitalized on the opportunity.
With a 1-1-1 record after the round robin, the Falcons were tied for second place with Central FC, and advanced to the gold medal game after the head-to-head tie breaker.
In the championship game against United DFC, the Falcons were defeated 3-0.
Alicia Thomsen received player of the tournament honours for NNU, recognizing her strong play on defence.
