by Glen Gibbs Peak Sports For the second consecutive week Powell River Villa has beaten one of the top teams in division two of Vancouver Island Soccer League.
After last week’s 3-2 victory over Cowichan United it took on Gordon Head Blazers Saturday night and shut it out 2-0.
Under what could only be described as wretched weather conditions at Brooks Turf field the two sides wasted no time getting up to top gear.
Just as it did a week earlier, Villa opened the scoring when Kye Taylor blasted a shot at the Blazers’ net from about 30 yards five minutes into the match.
“Brandon [Knox] or Jordan [Peters] touched it to me,” said Taylor, “and I hit it pretty much as hard as I could. A guy got a piece of it which put a perfect bend on it. It ricocheted and found the bottom right.”
The 1-0 Villa lead caused its opposition to step up the pace and the Blazers put a ton of pressure on Powell River over the next 30 minutes.
Villa keeper Douglas Rivera was up to the task however, and had the opposition throwing up its hands in frustration as he made save after save to keep the Blazers off the scoresheet.
His performance allowed Villa to create one more scoring chance before the half and it made the most of it with a beautiful set piece and a free kick worthy of the Premier League.
Peters was hauled down 30 yards from the Blazers’ net and the kick awarded to Villa was taken with Taylor and Jamie Zroback on either side of the ball.
Taylor moved first with the fake and Zroback followed up and nailed the kick which sailed high and over the outstretched hands of the keeper into the top right corner of the net.
The beauty of the shot was that it was so clean, so perfect and, from that distance, gave everyone a chance to admire its flight into the net.
His teammates pounded his back on the way up the pitch. “I hit it well,” said a happy Zroback later. “Kye said he was going to step over the ball. That location was in my perfect spot where I like it.”
The insurance goal came with just a minute or so to go in the half and there’s no doubt it had a huge effect on the play in the second half.
Villa had more chances to score in the next 45 minutes than did the Blazers and Rivera continued with his strong play on the few chances directed toward him.
“I don’t have much to say,” said the modest keeper of his shutout. “I do what I have to do. I think the second shot they had was going top corner and I just reached as far as I could to get it. I’m playing more and from that getting more confident.”
His confidence spread to the rest of the team and the players looked much more comfortable with the lead than they did the week before.
“Doug played amazing,” said Taylor, “but also we had Scott Hobson in the back and Joel Harry came up on a youth permit which solidified the back a little bit. We weren’t panicking so much in the last 15 or 20 minutes and we were able to maintain a bit of possession and keep our finger on the pulse of the game as opposed to just hoping and praying and kicking balls.”
Villa hopes to keep the ball rolling when the team travels to Salt Spring Island at 2:15 pm on Saturday, November 19 for a game against the second seed of the division.
