Youth soccer players from across the region will descend upon Aberdeen this weekend for the annual Dacotah Bank Cup Soccer Tournament.

Action gets underway with a couple of games this evening, then hits full swing at 8 a.m. Saturday. Final championship games are set for 2 p.m. Sunday.

“We’ve got just over 40 teams that will be competing this weekend,” said Jared Fischbach, tournament director. “The big ones are Jamestown, Bismarck, a couple of teams from Pierre, Fargo, Huron, and I think we’ve got 16 Aberdeen teams that will be playing.”

While the weather will be a bit on the cooler side, there is also precipitation in the forecast.

“It looks like the showers are towards the early morning and then the highs are 74 and 79,” Fischbach said. “It will be actually be quite pleasant compared to prior years.”

Don’t look for action on the pitch to stop if it does rain.

“As long as it’s not lightning, the rain won’t keep us from playing,” Fischbach said.

Fischbach said the annual tournament is the highlight of the summer for some athletes.

“The players can choose which tournaments they attend,” Fischbach said. “It’s not uncommon for a kid to sign up for competitive, and then train all summer, and then this might be the only tournament they actually get to compete in.”

While nearly half the teams in the field are from the Hub City, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the local teams will have a huge advantage when they hit the field.

“At the club level, this age, there’s probably not a home-field advantage,” Fischbach said. “Once you get into a high school level, there’s maybe a little bit more of a home-field advantage, but when they’re U10 or up to U16, it’s just same dimensions pretty much. It’s go out there and play.”

Fischbach, who serves as an assistant coach for the Aberdeen Central boys’ team, said many of the players who will be on the Golden Eagles roster this fall will be playing in the tournament. However, it will not be like watching the complete varsity squad competing.

“Most of them are playing at different positions than they will this fall,” Fischbach noted.

Not only that, but some members will not be in attendance due to prior commitments.

Still, with more than a dozen local teams on the pitch, there will be plenty of familiar faces to keep an eye on.

“This weekend is always fun, just because we get to play here, and we get 16 Aberdeen teams,” Fischbach said. “That’s a lot to get to watch play. This is one of the last tournaments that most of these kids will be competing in for most of the summer.”

Central will host its two-week team camp on July 17, the first day of tryouts is July 31.

Fischbach said there is a lot that goes into hosting the annual Dacotah Bank Cup.

“It takes a good board to get things lined up. As far as the date, each club kind of has a set date usually when they like to have their tournament, so we always stay on this weekend,” Fischbach said. “Then it takes a good relationship with the city to make sure the fields are ready to go, and tons of volunteers between working the concessions stands and field marshals.”

Fischbach expects there to be plenty of exciting action on the pitch this weekend. The event is free and open to the public.

“It’s going to be the last time to come watch some organized soccer until fall rec and fall high school starts,” Fischbach said. “It should be a fun weekend and we’re looking forward to having another great event.”

To see a complete tournament schedule, click on the following link:

https://events.htgsports.net/?eventid=11381#/scheduleresults