Lethbridge Soccer Association hosts successful Provincials

By Lethbridge Herald on August 15, 2022.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

There were 47 Tier 2 Alberta youth outdoor soccer teams that convened in Lethbridge for Provincials over the weekend and it was an overwhelming success.

There were  five Lethbridge FC teams that competed, with the U17 girls winning silver and the U13 boys bringing home bronze.

“The whole tournament was great, minus the storm that passed by Friday which caused a little mayhem because we had to reschedule six or eight games,” said  Frank Spadavecchia, the chair of the host committee.

To see a couple of local teams medal was great from the committee’s standpoint.

“We always wish for more, but it’s a stepping stone,” said Spadavecchia.

“So hopefully we can continue building on it and get better and better and bring home more medals.”

Alberta Soccer’s focus this year  was to do bigger events in the cities that were assigned a provincial tournament.

“So yeah, I think this is the biggest provincials we’ve ever hosted,” he said.

There were a total of eight penalty kicks on medal Sunday to decide games.

“That tells you they were very close in the competitive nature,” he said.

Sheena Dickson, Alberta Soccer Association competitions co-ordinator, was in the city for the  Provincials Championship and thought the event was amazing when it came to planning.

“Frank at Lethbridge Soccer has been great to work with— both actually him and his staff,” she said.

“Some of the challenges, obviously it’s 38 plus degrees outside and we have a lot participants and this is our largest event over the course of the summer.”

Dickson’s role was to make sure there were enough referees, fields and getting all information from the districts to ensure teams have what they need upon arrival.

There were boys and girls teams from the U13, U15 and U17 levels and 91 games were played throughout the weekend at three locations.