Futsal Alive and Kicking: ACAC Tournament 1 Results

January 23rd and 24th approximately 100 student athletes from 5 ACAC (Alberta College Athletics Conference) institutions converged on the Commonwealth Centre in Lloydminster.  The inaugural Futsal tournament hosted by Lakeland College kicked into high gear Saturday morning and was exciting from start to finish. (Included are the results of all the mens and womens matches along with some pictures.)

For the crowds that reached close to 200 at times, they were treated to a great demonstration of skill that on many occasions brought a round of applause from the stands and numerous cheers.

Saturday, the round robin games were held with the Medicine Hat women’s team finishing on top after 4 games.  The majority of the round robin games were decided by one or two goals between the teams which made for a very competitive tournament.  In the semifinals on Sunday the Medicine Hat Rattlers defeated Briercrest and Lakeland defeated the Keyano Huskies.  In the final, the Rattlers jumped out to a 2 goal lead before the Rustlers fought back to make it interesting.  The game went down to the final whistle with Medicine Hat narrowly defeating Lakeland 3 – 2.

On the men’s side of the draw the crowd was treated to some incredible ball handling and precise passing.  The Lakeland Rustlers finished round robin play with a record of 3 and 0 to finish on top going into the playoff round.   The semi finals saw Lakeland defeat the Keyano Huskies in a fast paced game.  The Briercrest Clippers defeated the Medicine Hat Rattlers 5 – 4 on penalty kicks in one of the most exciting games of the weekend.  In the final Lakeland defeated a very exhausted Briercrest team to finish the weekend with a 5 and 0 record.

The next Futsal tournament will be hosted by Medicine Hat on the Feb 12th –  14th weekend.  If the level of play is the same as it was in Lloydminster the spectators will be treated to some great indoor soccer.