The opening day of Soccerfest was a learning experience for the local teams.
Peacock and Central both finished third in their pools, while Vanier was winless in their preliminary pool.
“We’re using this tournament to improve,” said Central coach Angus McIntosh. “This a tournament to get our girls lots of playing time and lots of experience. We’re working on the things we need to work on going forward and not worrying about the results too much.”
The Cyclones opened with a 6-2 loss to Notre Dame and a 6-0 loss to Swift Current before posting a 3-1 win over Prince Albert St. Mary 2. St. Mary sent two teams to the 16-team tournament.
Against the Notre Dame, Valentina Berisha and Ruth Lamadine scored.
Peacock ended their day with a 2-2 tie against league-rival Estevan. That followed a 2-0 loss to Regina Campbell and an 8-0 loss to St. Mary’s top team.
“We’re doing what we expected to do. We had a fairly good game off of the get-go against Campbell — we lost 2-0. It was nice playing a big school like that and being able to play some good defence,” said Peacock coach Sandi Hutchinson.
Vanier lost 7-0 to Prince Albert Carlton, 4-0 to Saskatoon Evan Hardy and 4-2 to Lloydminster Holy Rosary.
They will meet Balgonie Greenall in the semifinal of the fourth-place pool Saturday.
Central and Peacock will now play each other in the third-place pool semifinal.
In the championship semifinals, Carlton will meet Regina LeBoldus and Swift Current will face Campbell in the other semifinal.
