This past holiday season there were angels at the tops of trees and at the top of the women’s division in the Christmas Soccer Tournament in Whitehorse.
Charly’s Angels defended their title at the 11th annual event at Vanier Catholic Secondary School on Sunday.
“It was so much fun. This tournament is always a highlight coming back from university,” said Angels’ Megan Lanigan. “The Christmas tournament is always excellent.”
Charly’s Angels, named for coach Charly Kelly, took first place with a 6-4 come-from-behind win over the Golden Oldies (a.k.a. Emily’s Team) in the final.
The Angels, which included many players from a long-time rep team that competed at the 2013 Canada Summer Games, defeated Emily’s Team 9-2 in last year’s final.
“The Whitty sisters and I like to put in an older girls’ team every year and we typically meet Charly’s Angels in the final,” said Oldies captain Emily Hoefs. “There are friendly old grudges, but they’re a team we’re happy to lose to, tie with or win - whatever the outcome is. It’s always fun to play in this tournament together.”
Emily’s Team defeated Charly’s Angels 5-1 in the round robin and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the final with goals from Laura Whitty, Susan Whitty and Sam Wintemute. Angels’ Lanigan and Camille Galloway found the back of the net before the end of the half and Galloway scored a minute into the second to tie it 3-3.
“In the second half we decided to pull it together, let’s get a win out of this, let’s go out on a high note,” said Lanigan.
Galloway, who finished the game with three goals, was the tournament’s top scorer in the women’s division. Lanigan finished the final with two goals and teammate Jaylene Kelly also scored. Emily Fedoriak scored Emily’s Team’s fourth goal to make it 5-4 late in the game.
Aimee Parker, from Charly’s Angels, was named tournament MVP and Hoefs was named top goalkeeper.
“I’m so proud of my girls here, we had a great tournament,” said Hoefs. “Finally, this year, we had enough subs, but just couldn’t pull it out. I think age and some injuries got the better of us.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com