An own goal was the difference in Powell River Villa’s 1-0 win over Lakehill (Victoria) FC on Saturday, September 14, at Timberlane Park.
Although a Villa player did not receive credit for the sixth-minute goal, the team gained three points in Vancouver Island Soccer League (VISL) standings by not allowing the visitors to equalize over the remaining 84 minutes of game time. Goalkeeper Emil Valing earned the shutout, his second in as many weeks.
“Emil should be recognized for his second shutout, although we had a ball cleared off the goal line by a defender Jake Kenmuir during the game,” said Villa coach Tony Leach. “Our defence has been very good, with James Timothy leading the way.”
Three yellow cards were handed out during the match, two to Villa players (Jacob Duyvesteyn and Jerod Timothy) and one to Lakehill (Gordon Elliott Jr).
After two rounds of VISL Division 1 matches, Villa is one of three teams without a loss. Vic West tops the table with six points from two wins, Villa is second with four points (one tie versus Sooke Celtic, one win), and Victoria Highlanders are seventh of the 10 teams with two points from a pair of tie games.
“It’s been a good start with a couple of clean sheets,” said Villa manager Chris McDonough.
Bays United (Victoria), Comox Valley United, Gorge FC and Lakehill each have records of one win and one loss for three points each. Cowichan Axis, Nanaimo United and Sooke are at the bottom of the table with one point each (one tie, one loss).
Villa plays in Nanaimo on Saturday, September 21, before returning home to host Highlanders on Saturday, September 28 (1:30 pm).
“Offensively we created a couple of great scoring chances [against Lakehill] but failed to bury them,” said Leach. “We’re looking forward to changing that around versus Nanaimo.”
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