Powell River Villa capped off an up-and-down season by going straight up with its fifth win in a row and a comfortable sixth place finish in the 12-team division two of the Vancouver Island Soccer League.
After a rocky start to the schedule, and at times teetering on the edge of relegation after Christmas break, Villa players rallied in March to turn their fortunes around.
The dramatic surge in standings ended on Saturday when Villa surprised a veteran Castaways FC and upended them 3-2.
It was the second week in a row Villa played spoiler and coach Jamie Zroback reported that this lineup was the youngest used to date.
Matt Liknes in goal with Reese Unger, Joel Harry, James Smart, Dylan McLean, Grant Campbell and Jordan Peters were some of the young guns who rounded out the starting lineup. “That’s like five grade 11s,” he said.
Of the Castaways, “They were bitter,” said Zroback, “because they had a serious shot at being promoted and they had to win that game.”
Villa took it to them for the first 10 minutes and almost scored when Peters broke through but his shot was saved by the keeper.
On the very next sequence Castaways turned it up the pitch and, on a cross, put a header into Villa’s net inside the short post.
Five minutes later, at the 20-minute mark, Smart flicked a ball over the defender’s head to David Bertrand who ran onto it and deftly stuffed his shot into the bottom of the net.
After an amazing diving save from Liknes that deflected a sure goal over the crossbar, Castaways was able to restore its one-goal lead just before the half on a penalty kick awarded on a hand ball.
Trailing 2-1 at the break, Villa was still feeling confident and Zroback said, “There was a calmness in the room and almost an attitude of ‘hey, let’s just go out and get a goal.’”
Once again, Bertrand got to a ball behind Castaways’ back line and scored in almost identical fashion to his first one.
“He had one of his best games of the year,” said Zroback of Bertrand’s effort. “He played great against Nanaimo last week and he’s really picked it up.”
The winning goal came about the 70th minute when Peters was taken down in the box and Kye Taylor hammered the subsequent penalty shot into the top corner to make it 3-2.
From there Zroback said, “it was the Jordan Peters show. Taking the ball, dancing around, getting into the corners and technically doing everything you are supposed to do to preserve a lead.”
Zroback wished this kind of play could have happened months ago. It wasn’t just the fact that the team was piling up wins instead of losses but the way it was getting the job done.
“Castaways is a big team and we were matching their physicality and tackles throughout the game.” For example, “I think it was McLean who went in for a nice 50/50 hard tackle and someone on their team thought it was, you know, dirty and said, ‘hey, that’s a Villa tackle.’”
It was a backhanded compliment indeed to the ears of Villa players young and old.
A very positive end to the season and with the move back to Timberlane Park with their now seasoned youngsters, Villa is extremely optimistic for next year.
“We’re 6-1-1 after Christmas,” Zroback said of the team that didn’t score once in the first four games of the year but erupted for 16 goals in the final five.
“It was a beautiful end to our season,” said Zroback, who added how appreciated the fans and sponsors have been for their support.
