Four Strikers teams claim championships at Hot Shot

Strikers U17 ladies

Nearing the end of their undefeated spring season, the Strikers U17 ladies spent a weekend in Coeur d’Alene dominating the U19 bracket and bringing home first place hardware.

 Led by captains Whitney Reichold and Alanna Robinson, the Strikers started play at LCHS, defeating their Sting U17 rivals 2-0, then dispatching a Canadian team from Penticton 5-0.

The action then moved over to the NIC field, where Sandpoint faced Flathead Force FC for a very tough match. Early in the game Pilar Herrera scored for Strikers, but only incredibly tough defensive action from the defensive line of Kendra Corless, Jennie Meulenberg, Melissa Mione and Corinne Ariss held back Force from pulling even. After losing Bailey Scrimsher late in the second half to a highly controversial red card, the Strikers ladies had to play with 10 players and stem an offensive onslaught mounted by Flathead’s very determined squad. The Sandpoint ladies dug in and held on to finish 1-0, winning the bracket and advancing to the semifinal.

As fate would have it, Flathead was the wildcard finisher, so they got another shot at the Strikers ladies just three hours later on the same NIC pitch. While missing the services of Scrimsher, who had been a real asset to the team in the earlier matches, the Strikers ladies won 2-0 with a penalty kick by Reichold and a goal by Ariss, while keeper Makayla Sundquist kept a clean sheet sending Sandpoint to the championship match.

In the final, Strikers faced a Montana U18 state cup winning squad. However, from the first whistle it was apparent that this would be an evenly matched game, with nearly 50/50 possession and several saves required by both Sundquist and a strong Montana keeper. Just before half Emma Weme had a fast breakaway on a counter attack against the Montana keeper and scored, but Montana was able to pull even just moments later as the Sandpoint side were caught off guard. The match ended 1-1 sending the game to penalty kick shootouts to be decided. As nervous parents and players looked on, the Sandpoint ladies and keeper Sundquist won the PK shootout by a 4-2 margin, securing the first place win. Coaches Tajan and Robinson would like to commend the team for the truly exceptional teamwork and mutually supportive atmosphere that contributed heavily to the weekend’s victory.

Strikers U14 boys

The Striker’s U14 boys had a highly successful weekend and easily won the silver division at Hot Shot. On Friday evening, the Strikers came out hot early and waxed Moscow 4-1. As usual, Jake orchestrated a potent offense all weekend and found the net more times than the coach can count.

On Saturday afternoon, the Strikers dominated a Canadian team from the beautiful town of Nelson, BC., 8-0. The Strikers solid defensive core four of Cory, Roan, Hains and Mahonri demonstrated great ball distribution out of the back and are playing at the top of their games. After recuperating and cross training for the many months, the Strikers were blessed by the return and quality contribution by Lucas Champman. Impressive outside mid play and highlight reel header goals came from J.D. Hauestein, who is new to the Strikers squad.

Sunday morning brought more of the same with a 7-1 victory over a Montana squad. The Strikers were able to rest some key talent Sunday morning by going up early and often. Outside mids Jered and Tucker were dominant, and were instrumental in our possession style of play. Center mids Nick and Kyle physically impressed all coaches, while they also made the players around them better with good positioning and smart defense.

The Strikers won the championship game 4 -1 against a hard fighting Canadian team from Trail, BC. Jackson redeemed some early break-away miscues by dominating the Canadian’s defense physically and with speed. He later tallied not one but two goals when it counted most.

The versatile attack combined with more than six scoring threats make this Strikers team tough to defend. Julian was stellar in the net and with quality saves, he denied any glimmer of light for the opposition all weekend. A short roster posed no issue for the Stikers who played composed team defense and held possession on offense 70 to 85 percent of the time in all four games. The team is peaking at an opportune time in preparation for the Idaho State Cup on Memorial Day weekend in Boise. Averaging almost six goals a game last weekend, the Strikers are riding high going into State.

A Kick in the Grass is a coach-submitted column that runs every Thursday during soccer season in the Daily Bee.