Powell River Villa advanced to the quarterfinals of the John Jackson Cup following the club’s 6-0 win over Juan de Fuca Hellas, who play in Division 2 of the Vancouver Island Soccer League, on Sunday, February 27, at Starlight Stadium in Victoria.
“We’re thrilled to get into the quarter finals again,” said Chris McDonough, Villa’s manager. “We made our last Jackson Cup run in 2019, when we were still in Division 2. Then, we were eliminated in the quarterfinals. We’re hoping to win this time and make it into the semifinals, which would be played here in Powell River if we do.”
Villa scored two goals in the first half, at 28 minutes and then again at 45 minutes.
“The first goal was considered an own-goal against Hellas, because after a great passing play and a shot from James Timothy, the Hellas goalie made a save but dropped the rebound, and Marcus Cramb was able to ricochet the rebound off a defender and into the net,” said Tony Leach, Villa’s coach. “Then, Niko Cristante scored, taking us into halftime with a 2-0 lead.”
Villa made some changes at half, bringing on some new players in the forward positions.
“Bringing in some fresh legs in the second half created a lot of chances,” said McDonough. “The team really increased their work rate on the field, and it paid off. We scored four goals in the second half to solidly win the game.”
Cristante scored his fourth goal in the last two games at 63 minutes in the second half. Then, Caiman Duggan and Jacob Duyvesteyn scored their first VISL goals at 68 and 80 minutes respectively.
“Niko’s goal was a thing of beauty; he spun his defenceman around three or four times, keeping control of the ball all the while, then flicked it past the goalie,” said Leach. “For Caiman’s goal, we had a nice passing play and a shot on goal, and the rebound went to Jack Padgett. He flicked it over to Caiman, who got his toe on it and poked it past the goalie. Then, Jacob Duyvesteyn was taken down in the box, and we let him take his own penalty shot. He smashed it into the side netting, and we were up 5-0.”
James Timothy scored his fourth goal of the season at 84 minutes to finish the game. Matt Liknes earned the shutout in Villa’s net.
“We’re a young team, and every practice and game we seem to improve,” said McDonough. “We’re not the team we were at the beginning of the season. We’ve improved a lot, and grown in confidence as we gained experience.”
In the quarterfinal game, to be played in Victoria on Saturday, March 5, Villa faces fellow Division 1 club Gorge FC. Villa’s last regular-season game will also be against Gorge, once both teams are finished with Jackson Cup play.
“We’re going to get a pretty good read on Gorge before we play our last season game, and vice versa,” said Leach. “Both of us want to continue in the Jackson Cup, so it’s going to be an intense game.”
Should Villa win this weekend, the semi-final game will be played at Timberlane Park on Saturday, March 12.
