BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Advertiser/Register
It was a clean sweep for Valley last weekend at the U-18 Tier 2 soccer provincials.
At the U-18 girls’ provincials in New Minas, East Kings Dekoe captured gold with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Halifax County.
Jill Murphy, Scarlett Smith and Ashley Rushton had the goals for East Kings, which advanced to the final after a 1-0-2 round robin.
Halifax County went 3-0 in the round robin and outscoring the opposition 10-0.
In their opener, East Kings played to a 4-4 draw with Fundy United from Amherst. Trailing 3-1 with 12 minutes remaining, East Kings scored three goals in five minutes to take the lead, only to surrender the tying marker late in the game.
Smith had two goals and Brianne Buchanan and Chloe Luckett one each.
In their second game, East Kings played to a 2-2 draw with Dartmouth United, with Murphy and Mikaela Barnett doing the scoring.
East Kings broke into the win column with a 3-0 shutout of Bedford. Murphy had two goals and Jenny Crowell the other.
Somerset competed in the tournament as the host team, and finished with a 0-1-2 record.
Somerset opened the tournament Saturday with a 1-1 tie against Riverview from Cape Breton. Lyndsey Bain had the goal. Later on Saturday, Somerset dropped a 1-0 decision to Halifax County.
In their final round-robin game Sunday, Somerset played to a 2-2 draw with Lunenburg United. Erin Buchan and Haleigh Fletcher had the goals.
East Kings also emerged victorious at the U-18 Tier 2 boys’ provincials in Dartmouth, topping Bridgewater 3-1 in Sunday’s final. Matt Murphy had two goals and Josh Thomas one.
East Kings earned a 2-0-1 record in the round robin. In their opening game, East Kings blanked Dartmouth United 3-0, with Murphy scoring all three goals.
East Kings downed Halifax County 6-1 with Murphy again scoring three times. Kirk Levy and Greg Brown had singles and East Kings also got credit for a goal Halifax scored on its own net.
East Kings played to a 2-2 draw with East Hants with Murphy and Alex Thomas scoring.
Bridgetown also represented the Valley at the U-18 boys’ provincials, and finished with 1-2-0 record. Bridgetown edged Fundy United 4-3, lost 4-1 to Bridgewater and 6-4 to Cole Harbour.
