LFC U17 Boys medal in thrilling fashion

By Lethbridge Herald on August 7, 2025.

Submitted Photo From left, LFC U17’s Nathan Clarke, Nathan Adamson and Jayden Egharevba hold up their all-star awards after the Canada Youth Cup.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Football Club’s U17 team ended their season in thrilling fashion  at the Canada Youth Cup National Showcase over the August long weekend, which resulted in them coming out with a bronze medal from the event.

LFC’s Sakil Adhikari played late-game heroics thanks to his conversion on free kick from about 20 yards out  to help LFC to  a 2-1 win over Newfoundland to bring home the bronze medal.

“We literally won the bronze medal with the last kick of the game,” said Roberto Paoletti, LFC U17 boys head coach.

“The boys went wild, so it was a definite story book finish to the game and to the tournament.”

Paoletti thought the team had gotten better as each game went on.

“We made some adjustments,” said Paoletti.

“ (The CYC)  had livestreams and videos immediately available, so we tended to watch them, and analyze them and make a few adjustments as to how we were playing and how we wanted to play.”

LFC faced strong competition and was comparable to the teams they  face in their Calgary league.

“All the teams we faced would’ve had no problem competing in that Tier I environment up in Calgary ,” said Paoletti.

The camaraderie within the team was what the players enjoyed the most about the experience.

“That was huge,” said Paoletti.

“The boys worked together in the dorms for five days rooming with one another on the same floor.”

Goalkeeper Nathan Adamson won the Golden Glove award as goalkeeper of the tournament at that level as well as an all-star award,  while Nathan Clarke and Jayden Egharevba were named all-stars.

“We had some veteran players that definitely stepped up and were big  parts of the success of our team ,” said Paoletti.

LFC had 2-2 record in the tournament.

The CYC allowed LFC to  play other teams in the country  play  in  front of post-secondary and professional teams and be evaluated and scouted for possible future endeavours in the sport.

Players got a snippet of university life while playing.

–With files from Justin Seward, Lethbridge Herald