Saskatchewan Super League

[Gordon]

The Saskatchewan Super League wrapped up today with Saskatoon Arsenal beating Saskatoon Auraco 3-0 (might have been 4-0) in front of approximately 300 fans. A screw up on my part meant that instead of arriving early and getting a good seat, I arrived at the start of the second half and got an OK seat. I was told it was 1-0 Arsenal at the time. A very hot day, with gusting winds interfered somewhat with the play. It was a spirited and hard fought match. Auraco played 2 men short for the last 20 minutes of the game as first occasional teammate Steve Graham and then, shortly afterwards, an unkown (to me) Arauco player got sent off. Arsenal scored two nice goals while two men up, but both off of the counterattack as, despite being short, Auraco were on the attack.

Auraco had finished first in League Play, followed by Arsenal. League MVP and Golden Boot winner was Jordan Shidoulsky (I probably screwed that spelling). Arsenal are off to the Nationals as Saskatchewan's representative. Arsenal also won the Saskatchewan Shield with the Victory as no team entered the Shield competition this year so it automatically went to the SSL champs.

Arsenal is largely comprised of the U of S Huskie's Men's team. Unfortunately, I think they only have about 9 players who can compete at the national level so I would expect that they will finish in the bottom half. Players to watch are Shidoulsky, Ian Bridge, Ryan McAllister and Shae O'Hare.

AS I was leaving, I overheard someone saying the final result was 4-0, so it is possible I was off on the score.

The opinions expressed above are just that.

[Cheeta]

I think that's the first province to decide their represenative club to the Nationals.

We'll know ours (Manitoba) in a couple of weeks, then off to Quebec for some autumn football.

So we've got Saskatoon Arsenal, and either Sons of Italy Lions or Sokol FC.

Who else?

"Minority of one"

[Crazy_Yank]

How good are these Canadian regional leagues? Must be at a decent enough level to get 300 people to show up. When I played in college we were lucky to get a crowd of 50 and we were a good team.

"Try not, do. Do or do not. There is no try" - Yoda

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Crazy_Yank

How good are these Canadian regional leagues? Must be at a decent enough level to get 300 people to show up. When I played in college we were lucky to get a crowd of 50 and we were a good team.

"Try not, do. Do or do not. There is no try" - Yoda

Where did you play college soccer. I heard that good college gets 1000 fans per game like UNC or Indiana.

Here in Quebec, the regional league is compose with current CIAU and some NCAA players. We have a lot of foreigners who brings experience to the teams. Sometimes you can find 1 or 2 U-17 or U-20 national team player like Matondo who was playing with Panellinios last year.

[matthew]

300 is pretty good for the new league. Crowds in Moose Jaw were closer to 50, though Santos definitely struggled this year. Having two local teams in the final certainly helped.

I actually was more impressed with Arauco than Arsenal when I saw them, but Arsenal has a nice defence that was rarely tested in their trip here.

It's Schidlowsky. McAllister and O'Hare also imperssed and I like Neufeld the keeper. I also grew up with Robin Ailsby, so it was humbly to see him out there still looking strong when my game has completely eroded.

Thanks for the update Gordon.

cheers,

matthew

Born in Canada. Live in Canada. Die in Canada.

[Martyr]

Due to their fall/winter/spring schedule in Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island the first province to decide their provincial rep for nationals was British Columbia. Surrey United of the Vancouver Metro League (and the Pacific Coast League) won the Province Cup in May.