Soccer takes 1st place in the PAC Championships
The 2018 PAC men and women’s soccer championships took place over the weekend of October 5th-6th– the event being hosted by Briercrest College. It was a hard-fought tournament between the Briercrest Clippers, Millar Edge and Prairie Pilots, even with less than ideal weather conditions heading to Friday morning. The Clippers men and women’s teams came out on top as PAC champions in the end for a second year in a row.
The Clippers came out strong in their first game, both the men and women tied the Edge 1-1. Player of the game for the men’s teams went to #5 Justin Klassen and for the women, 17 Allison Behiel. Heading into the afternoon games, the Clippers and Pilots took each other on resulting in 7-2 and 4-0 wins for the Briercrest teams. The Clippers men and women’s teams both had hat tricks at hand from #1 Suzanne Reimer and #14 Joel Van-Hatten; with Briercrest guaranteeing their spots in the final match. Player of the games for the Clippers were #12 Dawson Leister and#1 Suzanne Reimer.
Starting off the woman’s final game, the Clippers and Edge battled hard, however the Clippers out played the Edge near the end. The result was #1 Suzanne Reimer scoring a pair of goals and #12 Laura Korthuis adding to the 3-1 victory. Player of the game for the Clippers was #11 Anita Frei playing a shutdown game. PAC tournament MVP went to the Clippers’ #1 Suzanne Reimer who scored 5 goals throughout the tournament. Talking about the tournament afterwards, Suzanne explains, “It has been so good being a part of this team with such a great group of girls! Everyone has worked so hard, creating such a positive and competitive atmosphere out on the field. We went into this tournament with our eyes set on first place, and because of the unity of our team, our dedication, and coach Willard, we were able to pull through with a win in the final.”
In the men’s final, the Clippers once again faced the Edge. After 90 minutes of regulation time, no goals were allowed, leading to 15 minutes of extra time where Millar pressed Briercrest in their end resulting in multiple chances to end the game. Millar however was shutout by Briercrest’s defense and goal keeper. The game went into penalty kicks where both teams keep going back and forth until Briercrest took the lead by one and beat Millar 5-4. Players of the game were goal keeper Will Dmytrow for the Clippers, shutting out the Edge throughout the game. The tournament MVP went to Clippers’ #12 Dawson Leister. Also talking after the tournament, Dawson explains, “there is such a great group of guys on the team. We work well together both on and off the pitch. Teamwork was an important part of how we played and why we won. I have been very blessed to play on this team with these guys.”
The teams will be heading into their indoor soccer season this weekend. This year the teams will be playing in the Regina Soccer League.
-Article by Will Dmytrow
