(March 26, 2018) Alberta North futsal teams departed the South Slave region of the Northwest Territories this past weekend with some extra souvenirs as both teams won medals on their final day of competition.

Despite finishing third out of five teams in round robin play and narrowly losing to Alaska in their first game, the Juvenile Female futsal team faced off against Alaska in the semi-finals, narrowly grabbing the edge in that game with a 4-3 win on two goals apiece from Meghan Bielecki and Alyssa Lutz. In the final, the girls took on an incredibly strong Greenland team where they eventually lost 12-1. The girls would take home the silver medal however, and Alyssa Lutz left the tournament tied for second in scoring overall with eight goals in total.

The Juvenile Male futsal team also finished third in their round robin of a six team competition. The boys would take on Team Yamal for the second day in a row in their semi-final losing 11-3 to a fantastic team. The team would then face the home team, Northwest Territories, in a bronze medal match on Friday. Two goals each from Tarik Seifedine and Aaron Bessong and a lone goal from Joshua Richardson gave the team a 5-2 win to capture the bronze medal.

Players who participate on the Alberta North teams in the Arctic Winter Games typically reside in Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. The Games take place every two years and feature teams from: Alaska, Greenland, Northern Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavik, Nunavut, Sapmi, Yamal and Yukon.

Thank you to the Fort McMurray Youth Soccer Association and the Grande Prairie Soccer Association for organizing the teams and to coaches Christine Reid and Shervin Hajami.