Powell River Villa, currently sitting in ninth place in Vancouver Island Soccer League Division 1 standings, sent shockwaves through the league by leading division leaders Lakehill FC for most of the game and then holding them to a 3-3 tie on November 26, at Timberlane Park.
“This is only the second time this season that Lakehill has tied a game; they’ve won every other match they’ve played,” said Chris McDonough, Villa’s manager. “We went into this game hoping for a result, and we fought hard to get one. Powell River should be very proud of their team.”
Captain Niko Cristante opened the scoring at 27 minutes in the first half, the only goal for the first 45 minutes.
“The ball went into Ori Fisher, who we signed a couple weeks ago,” said McDonough. “He was on the outside of the box, so he passed it to Niko, who saw the keeper was a little off his line and tipped the ball into the far corner. It was a beautiful goal and gave the team some confidence.”
Villa made one change at halftime, bringing on new player Patrick Osakabe-Green, who played for Vancouver Island University. Osakabe-Green scored at 62 minutes in the second half to put Villa up 2-0.
“Patrick is very quick, and his presence on the field instantly gave us a spark on the front line,” said McDonough. “We were countering out of our end, Niko passed him the ball for a breakaway, and he buried his chance in the net. That goal gave us a bit of breathing room.”
Lakehill, however, is not the top team in the league by chance. They mounted a counter-offensive that kept Villa limited to defence and counterattacks through most of the second half, and scored at 73 minutes. Then, at 80 minutes, Osakabe-Green once again scored to increase Villa’s lead to 3-1.
“Ori took a corner kick that the Lakehill goalie had some trouble with, the rebound went to Patrick, and he put it in the net to put us up 3-1,” said McDonough.
“We were pretty happy, but we knew Lakehill wasn’t going to give up, so we had to finish the game off. They came back with two quick goals from Blair Sturrock at 84 and 86 minutes, but we held on through injury time to get the tie," added McDonough, who praised the team effort that led to the tie.
“Richard ‘Chico’ Murphy, Nick Van’t Schip, Jake Kenmuir and Caiman Duggan on the back line were fantastic, blocking shots and keeping Lakehill’s chances limited,” he said. “We’ve added a few new players in the last few weeks and they are really making their presence felt. It was a great debut with two goals for Patrick, and a great second game from both Ori and Cullen Buholzer. But everyone on the field for this game deserves to feel proud of their performance.”
Villa had great chance for a fourth goal but Kalem Lindstrom's shot hit the crossbar.
Up next for Villa is another road game down to Victoria, where they will face second-place Vic West FC on Saturday, December 3. They return home for the final game before the holiday break, hosting Gorge FC on Saturday, December 10, at Timberlane Park.
“Every game is so important right now to get us out of relegation,” said McDonough. “We put one more point between us and Comox, and gained on Bays United for that eighth place spot, but the season’s not over yet. We’ll just keep focusing on the next game and play the way we’ve proven that we can.”
Videos courtesy Kim Leach.
