Hermine forces Premier Sports Campus to reschedule soccer tournament

A planned busy weekend at the Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch is far less eventful thanks to Hurricane Hermine’s sideswipe of the area.

A United States men’s national under-17 soccer team friendly and a youth Labor Day tournament were both cancelled Friday, leaving only a United States women’s national under-17 soccer team friendly to open the Premier Sports Campus’ new stadium.

The women’s friendly, which was originally scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m., was pushed up an hour to a 6 p.m. start. The men’s friendly was scheduled in conjunction with the Tampa Bay Labor Day Tournament at Lakewood Ranch, so it was canceled when the week’s heavy rain continued into Friday and wiped out the tournament.

The tournament will not be rescheduled, but the Chargers Soccer Club, the host club based out of Clearwater, is giving teams that registered for the tournament the option of playing in one of two tournaments later in the year. Chargers SC serves as host for the Thanksgiving KickOff Classic from Nov. 25-27 in Clearwater, and the Premier Sports complex will serve as host for the PSC Girls Showcase from Dec. 27-30.

While a slew of high school football games have also been canceled and postponed, most other sporting events around Manatee and Sarasota counties are scheduled to go on as planned. Sarasota Sailing Squadron’s 70th annual Labor Day Regatta will go on as scheduled Saturday and Sunday. Check-in for the regatta begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday with warning signals for all fleets going out at 12:25 p.m. On Sunday the first warning signal will go out at 10:55 a.m.

The Bradenton Runners Club XC Invitational at G.T. Bray Park will also run as scheduled Saturday despite soggy course conditions. The high school cross country race will begin at 8 a.m. with the elite varsity girls. Elite varsity boys begin at 8:25 a.m. The invitational varsity girls will begin at 8:45 a.m. and the invitational varsity boys will start at 9:15 a.m. Junior varsity runners will begin at 9:40 a.m. and the awards ceremony will begin at 10:45 a.m. Manatee, Palmetto, Braden River, Southeast and Bayshore are among the teams expected to compete.

This story was originally published September 2, 2016 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Hermine forces Premier Sports Campus to reschedule soccer tournament."