Oceanside Youth Soccer's house teams have all wrapped up their regular seasons, but last weekend's exhibition games were a good tune-up for their upcoming playdowns, "and a great way to keep the kids fit and focused."
On Sunday down at QB Rec Fields, Oceanside U18 Boys — aka Team Adam — knocked off the MidIsland Screaming Eagles 5-2.
The Screaming Eagles haven't beaten Oceanside this season, but it wasn't for a lack of trying as both teams stretched the field.
Hard-charging Oceanside striker Ian Whibley struck for a hat trick, and Felix Wachter and Nubian Smith rounded out the scoring.
Adam Soer and Aidan Canil split the duties in net.
"We let the dogs out in the second half," Oceanside co-coach Cliff Craven said after.
Team Adam finished the regular season at 12-2-1 and alone in first in their six team league. The Screaming Eagles were fifth.
"It was an exhibition game (but) we're gearing up with the focus on our year end tournament, so we experimented — it was just good for everybody to play different positions."
"It's been a really good year coaching these guys, they're a great group of kids," said Craven, then pointed out while the side is a mix of players from different teams," that Ballenas/KSS, Parksville/Qualicum rivalry doesn't exist on this team, which is great to see — these guys have all bonded really well together."
ALSO RUNNING HARD on the adjoining pitch Sunday was Oceanside's U18 Girls Impact, who gave the first place Nanaimo Spain team a good run for their money in a 3-1 loss.
"Our team played tenacious — a very good game for us," said Impact coach Dan MacKay.
Earning props for their play was Emma Patterson, Emma Orrick, Tess Slamen, Rebecca Edge and Jenna Auringer.
The Impact finished their regular season near the bottom of their league, "but we have 15 girls that are 15 years old and three that are 17 playing U18, so we're a very young team," said MacKay, adding "they played very well. They're a really hard working team that never gives up . . . a good bunch of girls."
IN OTHER NEWS
Oceanside's other U18 Girls side, the Dynamite, were in Nanaimo last Sunday for a friendly, doubling up Nanaimo Portugal 4-2. Lexy Berg led the charge with two goals in that one, and Claudia Ritzker and Kiera Wilson added singles. The Dynamite finished the regular season third.