With good weather promising good games in the heat, last weekend Nakusp Secondary hosted their ninth invitational junior and senior boys high school soccer tournament.
The NSS tournament is the largest high school boys soccer event hosted in the Kootenays and this year featured 10 senior teams and five junior teams competing in separate divisions in a round robin format.
In the junior division the Nakusp team played Creston in their first game. The game was tied at 1-1 until a late penalty kick was awarded to Creston. The east Koootenay team converted on their penalty and edged NSS 2-1.
In their second game the Nakusp juniors faced a grade 8-12 Logan Lake team. Once again the game was very even with the score tied at 2-2 after regulation time. In the penalty shootout the Logan Lake team converted on more of their shots to edge the NSS team 3-2.
Nakusp played the defending junior champions from Invermere in their third game. Nakusp held a 2-0 lead for most of the game before two late Invermere goals tied the game. In the penalty shootout Invermere came out on top and once again NSS lost a tight 3-2 decision.
In their final game Nakusp jumped out to a two goal lead on Kimberley and held on for a 2-1 victory. Tournament MVP for the junior team was Zach Friedenberger.
Creston went through the junior division undefeated to win the junior championship.
In the senior division NSS went into the tournament as the defending champions.
Nakusp played Fort St. James as their first game, and jumped out to an early lead on a goal by Jacob Balske. Nakusp added two more goals in the second half by Luiz Carillo and Jacob Balske for a 3-0 victory.
In their second game Nakusp played a Kimberley team strengthed by 9 international student players from Europe. NSS gave up two goals on defensive errors in the first half and missed converting on numerous scoring chances. In the second half NSS had several chances early in the half but once again failed to capitalize and ended losing the game 3-1. Jade Streliev scored the goal for Nakusp on a penalty shot.
Their third game saw NSS facing their long time rivals from Rossland Secondary. The Nakusp team dominated the game from start to finish scoring 5 goals and holding the Rossland team to 1 shot on goal for a 5-0 victory. Max McCoy, Kellan Nishida,Jacob Balske, Jade Streliev and Sean Harper scored the Nakusp goals.
In their final game Nakusp played Similkameen Secondary from Keremeos. NSS gave up an early goal on a defensive lapse and once again failed to capitalize on numerous scoring chances of their own. With the 1-0 victory, Keremeos won their pool and advanced to the tournament final against the Invermere team. Tournament MVP for the NSS senior team was Jade Streliev.
In the tournament final Invermere scored an early goal and added two late insurance goals for a 3-0 victory over Keremeos.
Congratulations to all teams for good games played.