Saskatchewan soccer team wins national championship
It’s the first boys’ soccer national championship in Saskatchewan history.
The U17 Saskatoon Alliance won their provincial soccer league title, earning them a spot at nationals. But just to survive nationals is a grueling experience.
“It’s five games in six days,” said Dan Weber, head coach of the Saskatoon Alliance U17 boys team. “It’s really almost like a war of attrition.”
Winning their first three games in the round robin, all by just a single goal, the Alliance were guaranteed a spot in the gold medal game. They beat Alberta, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia before winning against Prince Edward Island in the semi-final.
“Everything was close,” said Weber. “Sometimes I think we made it closer than we needed to, but in other cases, they were just really, really competitive games.”
Facing Ontario’s representative Thornhill in the gold medal match, both teams were careful in the first half.
“I think both teams were kind of feeling each other out,” he said. “No one really wanted to make a mistake, they don’t want to lose on a mistake, so it was pretty conservative. Not the most exciting soccer.”
But the action picked up in the second half, with Ontario scoring almost immediately on what the coach calls a miscue.
What stood out to him though, was the way the players responded.
“It didn’t rattle them so much that it would put them off,” said Weber. And a few minutes later, one of the under-aged players, Nazar Bulyhin, blasted a left-footed shot that tied the game at 1.
“If you can find the footage, it looks just like a pro soccer goal. And that’s when the light went off for the boys, we’re about 30 minutes away from a national championship.”
Less than four minutes after that, Ontario served up a costly giveaway in their own 18-yard box. Tristao Hein got enough on the scramble shot for the ball to cross the goal line, making the score 2-1 late in the second half.
“He was able to score, and then it was about locking things down and time management,” said Weber, who was finally rewarded for his and his players’ hard work when the final whistle blew.
“It was just an incredible feeling, we finally did it,” he said. “Meanwhile there’s kids going nuts and running around and jumping on each other. It was just a really, really great, overwhelming feeling to have accomplished something as a group.”
Another Saskatoon Alliance team, the U15 girls team narrowly missed a double celebration, earning a well-fought silver medal in their first appearance at nationals.
But it’s the combined success of the teams that Weber hopes will help drive the sport of soccer in Saskatchewan to new heights, something that would require increased support.
“Many years ago I said, we have NHL athletes coming from Saskatchewan regularly,” Weber told CTV News.
“We have some of the greatest football players and volleyball players, what was bothering me was that it wasn’t happening with soccer. It didn’t mirror what the other programs are offering their athletes and creating a real culture of excellence. I hope we started that, I hope that this kind of sets a segue into creating the mindset that, we do have some of the best players in all of Canada.”
While this season is finally over, Weber says his phone is already ringing with coaches and schools asking about his players. Weber says it’s just the beginning of Saskatchewan soccer players advancing further in the game.
