Left: Sherbrooke Bear, Lachlan, had an ice encounter during a match against Lalor.
By Dale Blair
THE Sherbrooke Rangers Junior Soccer Club’s Under 12 Bears may be renamed the Snow Bears after a torrid encounter in remarkable conditions against Lalor at Menzies Creek on Saturday.
With the temperature hovering near zero, the Bears seemed frozen at kick-off as Lalor scored an immediate goal when their winger broke down the left side and beat a number of Sherbrooke players before giving Thyler Argoon in goal no chance.
Passing was difficult on the muddy pitch and the ball heavy. A number of Bears were underdone after battling flu and colds during the week.
After 10 minutes of play snow began to fall and became heavier as the half progressed.
A more physical Lalor side seemed to be handling the conditions better.
The Bears were well-served in attack by Zach Luecke while Lachlan Maclean and Adam Doolan battled hard in defence.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time, the Bears began to string together some attacking moves with Nic Broomhead and Paul Torsello outstanding whilst Max Rechner, in his first match back after a broken arm, caused havoc with his speed around the edges.
Max Gates was standing up to much larger opposition with aplomb in midfield.
There were some physical challenges from Lalor, which resulted in a yellow card against a repeat offender.
Midway through the half, Zach Luecke weaved through some heavy Lalor defence to find the net with an excellent strike.
Despite a number of opportunities, the Bears were unable to add a second goal and the match ended at 1-1.
With two matches left the Bears will need other results to go their way to hang on to a top two finish.
The player of the match was Zach Luecke.
