Soccer festival fun in the blazing hot sun for 750 players

There was plenty of fun despite the blazing hot sun for 750 Prince Edward County Soccer Association (PECSA) players attending their year-end festival at the PECSA Fields on Johnson St., Picton.

The U18 teams put on a great show to kickstart the festival weekend on Friday.

There were just enough U18 players for two teams this year, so the PECSA executive got creative and created four team rosters, with each player technically being on two different teams.

Friday’s game was between PEC Storage Solutions (yellow), and Giant Tiger (red). An exciting game came down to a round of penalty kicks, which saw PEC Storage Solutions come out on top.

Thanks was extended to coaches Melanie and Terry, and U18 ref Ron as well as the players for their sportsmanship.

In the Ontario Soccer Association’s development program, competitive play starts at the U14 division.

The PECSA U14 teams participated in a round-robin format tournament Sunday.

Both the Final Touch (Red) and Evan’s Lumber (White) came into their final game with two wins each. Final Touch came out as the day’s champions.

U5, U9, and U11 teams played Saturday, with the U7 teams playing two games Sunday.

Coach Justin Scanlon was this year’s recipient of The Scott Wentworth Coaching Award of Excellence. Coach Justin did double duty this season coaching both the U9 Kingfisher Financial and U7 Parksvue Farms teams. Justin received glowing reviews in his nominations, for his exceptional coaching skills and his ability to ensure that his players have fun.

Justin Scanlon (left) and Scott Wentworth.

This year PECSA decided to introduce an award for an outstanding referee. Brennan Vincent is the inaugural recipient of The Ron Stakes Excellence in Refereeing award.

Brennan Vincent, right, is the inaugural recipient of The Ron Stakes Excellence in Refereeing award.

Brennan has been a ref with PECSA for a number of years and the association was thankful he was able to return followed the two-year COVID-19 pandemic hiatus. Brennan also opted to level up his certifications this season which enabled him to ref the rep games.

Loyalist College generously donated an Oculus Quest 2 at the beginning of the season, for the purpose of encouraging enrolment in the U14-U18 age groups. Jack Thompson (right) was the lucky winner. He is seen here with executive member David Walcott.