Two soccer teams pulled up their stockings and got the job done over the weekend.
Fellowship of the Big Squish and Charly’s Angels claimed the men’s and women’s titles at the 2016 Christmas Insomnia Tournament at Vanier Catholic Secondary School on Sunday.
Big Squish took the men’s title at the 13th annual tourney with a 6-4 win over Team Liverpool in the final.
The team, which smushed together a player’s nickname and the title of a J. R. R. Tolkien novel for their name, won, tied and lost in their three matches on Saturday before winning four straight on Sunday for the title.
“Today was a great day. I think we just caught our stride,” said Big Squish high scorer Sam Lindsay.
Lindsay scored his 10th goal of the tournament in the final to be the top scorer at the tournament.
Teammates Ammon Hoefs, Boris Hoefs, Matt Thomson, Graham White and captain Marshall “Big Squish” Ewing also scored in the final.
Goalkeeper Donny Richardson was named tournament MVP on the men’s side of the tournament.
“Our goalkeeper is phenomenal … he kept us alive throughout the whole tournament,” said Lindsay.
Liverpool fought back from 4-0 to make it 4-3 early in the second half before Big Squish pulled away with two more goals at 6-3. Scoring for Liverpool were Caleb Kelly, Rob Borud and Travis Olynyk with two.
“They’re a pretty talented group of players,” said Lindsay. “A lot of them play at university, or played in college or university in the past. They have really good feet.
“They almost came back and were giving us some chills for a little bit but we managed to hang on.”
After losing in the semifinal last year, Charly’s Angels defeated Wildfire 6-0 in the final for their third title in four years.
Their only loss of the tournament came in the round robin to Matt Damon, who they then beat 5-2 in the semifinal.
“We were down a couple subs, so it was a grind sometimes,” said Angels captain Megan Lanigan. “We love it because we’re all at different universities now, so we get to come back and play with each other, so it’s a lot of fun.
“This year it was really good competition; everyone was pretty equal.”
Charly’s Angels, named for coach Charly Kelly, was made up of players from a long-time rep team that competed at the 2013 Canada Summer Games.
Tournament MVP Jamie Joe Hudson scored two in the final, as did teammate Camille Galloway. Lanigan and goalie Anna Janowicz, who was in net for the shutout, also got goals in the final.
Though Charly’s Angels and Wildfire made the final, neither had the top scoring female of the tournament. Tyra Jones of the YT Girls SC claimed the title with nine goals.
“Thanks to Haley Stallabrass, who organized the tournament,” said Lindsay. “She did a ton of work, putting the schedule and rosters together. The tournament wouldn’t have happened without her.”
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com