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Whistler Secondary tough in soccer championships

Team recovers from first-day setbacks with three straight wins The Whistler Secondary Storm boys soccer team proved they can play at a high level when the school hosted the high school Senior Boys A Soccer Tournament.

Team recovers from first-day setbacks with three straight wins

The Whistler Secondary Storm boys soccer team proved they can play at a high level when the school hosted the high school Senior Boys A Soccer Tournament. The ‘A’ division is for smaller schools with 500 students or less.

They played five games over three days, finishing with a record of three wins, one loss, and one draw.

Unfortunately, both the draw and the loss took place on the first day of competition, which relegated Whistler into the last playoff division.

They battled hard in their first game against A.L. Fortune of Enderby, and finished regulation play with a score of nil to nil. As per the rules, the draw in the round robin was to be decided by a shoot-out, with five players taking shots.

The teams tied once again with four goals each. A.L. Fortune edged Whistler in the next round of sudden death penalty shots.

A.L. Fortune was given three points for a win, and Whistler earned one point for the initial tie. A.L Fortune went on to finish third overall in the province.

The Whistler team had to start their next game against Nakusp immediately afterwards, and lost 4-1. Nakusp went on to finish fifth in the tournament.

"That was a hard day," said head coach Bernard Messeguer. "The team we lost that first game to went on to finish third in B.C., so they were a pretty good, pretty skilled team. The next game, I think we were a little tired out there. The players are fit, but not really tournament fit like some other teams. We’re lucky if we can get a game a week, much less two games in a row like that. Not to make excuses for us – we practised hard and there were four other teams that had to play back to back games, but it was a factor.

"You can always be proud of them (Whistler) and the way they played. These guys don’t get the tournament exposure or the amount of competition some of the other teams get.

"They have to battle a couple of pretty big detriments out there. The first is that it’s a short season here that’s broken up by a long winter. The second is that there’s not a lot of real games out here to play in," said Messeguer.

Although Whistler was relegated to the last pool for day two of the competition, which meant that they couldn’t finish any higher than ninth place, the Storm came out strong.

In their first game against St. John Brebeuf, Whistler’s Michael Messeguer and Steve Romanin knocked in two unanswered goals to put Whistler up 2-0. St. John missed a couple of penalty kicks in front of the goal, but at last got on the board near the end of the first half. Whistler keeper Cole Stewart made the first save, but a St. .John player put the rebound in off the crossbar.

Whistler came out strong again in the second half, playing tight defence and feeding the ball up field to the forwards for one breakaway after another. A mishandled ball by the St. John goalie put Whistler up 3-1, and that’s how that game would end.

Whistler played a tougher game that afternoon against Fort St. James, and came through to win 2-1.

In the Storm’s last game on Saturday, they played Ashcroft, and won that game 3-1.

When all was said and done, Whistler finished 10 th out of 12 teams in the tournament.

"The problem with a round robin system like this is that your final placing isn’t real a good measure of how well you performed," said Andree Janyk, the tournament director and an assistant coach for the team. "You really have to win on the first day to finish anywhere in the top eight, and you need to win both games to be in the top four. They just got unlucky and played a couple of good teams on the first day, and one of them came down to a shoot-out."

Although all of the players contributed, special mention went to striker Steven Romanin, who was quick in moving the ball up the field and set up a number of scoring plays. Francois Ligeti was strong among the forwards, and Mike Messeguer was tough in the half position.

Peter Skryabin anchored Whistler’s defence, blocking numerous passes and shots, and clearing the ball well.

New keeper Cole Stewart also played exceptionally well, taking away opportunities through good positioning and coming up with some big saves.

Only two members of the team are graduating this year, which means that Whistler has a good chance of returning to the championships again next year.

"The team is generally young, mostly Grade 10 and 11, and we have a lot to build on. They continue to develop really quickly, and now any time they find a tournament like this they know how they can perform," said Janyk.

At the end of the tournament, one player from each team was nominated to the tournament all-star team. For Whistler that honour went to Romanin.

The golden boot award, presented to the player with the most goals in the tournament, went to Nick McNally Daves of first place St. Andrews. Adam Pawlak, also from St. Andrews, was the tournament MVP.

The Whistler Secondary Storm team is:

Charlie Calladine, defense, Grade 10; Jeremy Caverly, defense, Grade 10; Rory Eusan, midfield, Grade 11; Jesse Juniper, midfield, Grade 10; Robbie Laird, midfield, Grade 10; J.D. McLean, midfield, Grade 10; Michael Messeguer, midfield, Grade 11; Cole Nelson, forward, Grade 10; Ben Pickering, midfield, Grade 10; Cole Reade, midfield and keeper, Grade 10; Grady Widdess, defense, Grade 10; Patrick Wiebe, forward, Grade 12; Francois Ligeti, forward, Grade 11; Jerry McArthur, midfield, Grade 11; Peter Skryabin, sweeper, Grade 12; and Cole Stewart, keeper, Grade 11.

Final Standings:

1. St. Andrew’s, Victoria

2. Southridge, Vancouver

3. A.L. Fortune, Enderby

4. Queen Charlotte

5. Nakusp

6. St. Patrick’s, Victoria

7. St. Ann’s Academy, Victoria

8. Vancouver Waldorf, Vancouver

9. St. John Brebeuf, Abbotsford

10. Whistler

11. Fort St. James

12. Ashcroft