U11 Wrath learn from Tillsonburg's In It To Win It rep soccer tournament
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Tillsonburg’s Paul Davis Systems Restoration Specialists U11 Wrath were In It To Win It on Saturday.
Playing in the Tillsonburg Minor Soccer U10 to U13 boys rep tournament, the Wrath were in a high-calibre U11 A division with Brantford Galaxy, Leaside Tigers, AEK London, and London Southwest and Northwest. Playing in the U11 B division were Brantford City, Woodstock Stallions, St. Thomas Croatia, Portuguese Fury and Waterloo United.
The Wrath opened Saturday morning at the Tillsonburg Minor Soccer Park with a 6-5 win over Southwest Lightning. Leaside, a Toronto team, defeated Tillsonburg 5-3, and the Brantford Galaxy topped Tillsonburg 6-1. Playing in their fourth game Saturday, Tillsonburg lost 6-2 to Norwest.
“We played hard,” said Paul Davis Systems coach Peter McDowell after the Norwest game. “It was a great soccer tournament.
“We learned, during a tournament, we have to have a little more rest. Maybe have a little more substitutions, a little more often. Because when they scored it was usually at the end of a long shift.
“We’ve been practicing three days a week, but we weren’t ready for an all-day tournament in this heat. Conditioning is the only way to do that.
“The boys played well and we’re proud of them. We’re impressed with the boys – they played well considering the obstacles we had. Overall I’m happy, I had a lot of fun coaching today, as did the other two guys. And the boys still had smiles on their faces even though we lost. At the end of the day it’s not about the wins or losses, it’s whether you had fun. And these guys had fun.”
With eight games left in the LDYSL L6B Gus Fabrikis division regular season, the Wrath are mid-pack at 3-4-1. The team’s season-long goal remains the same – Challenge Cup.
“The Challenge Cup is the only thing that really matters in the progression of these boys to be better soccer players. If you win the Challenge Cup, that means you are the best of your division, and that’s essentially what I want to see.
“We were close last year, we were close the year before. This year I can see it…
“We have a lot of good players, and I really see good things for this team.”