Powell River Villa was supposed to play a pair of games last weekend. However, it picked up six points by virtue of a 6-3 win over Lakehill Danger Police 3A on Saturday and three more on a forfeit from SFFC Active Earth Engineering 3A scheduled for Sunday.
Aside from the points from the forfeit, Villa also received $500 of the $1,000-fine handed down by Vancouver Island Soccer League.
Had Active Earth shown up, it probably would have run into a buzz saw anyway.
Villa snipers were on fire Saturday against Lakehill in the game that took place on Brooks’ turf field due to the city’s closure of Timberlane Park.
They started with a flurry of good chances including a Jake Kenmuir header on a corner kick from Billy Bagiopoulos, a close call on a 38-yard free kick with Bagiopoulos on the rebound and a near miss from Rob Devlin’s header off a corner kick.
They finally broke the 0-0 score when Jordan Peters spun around from 30 yards and let a shot go that flew over the keeper and high into the net at 24 minutes.
Every now and again the action did go down to Villa’s end and at 28 minutes on a corner, Lakehill had its best chance in tight but keeper Matt Liknes was there to keep it out.
After a couple more good chances for Villa, Kenmuir made it 2-0 on a hard, low shot from 18 yards to the lower left corner.
Shortly after that goal, Kenmuir stuck for his second by heading in a long corner at 41 minutes.
Lakehill took advantage of an undisciplined push on a corner kick and on the ensuing penalty scored to make it 3-1 at the end of the half.
The wide open game continued in the second half and Powell River got caught with an embarrassing effort when a ball trickled and then pinballed its way through two Villa defenders and new keeper Ross Fitzgibbon for Lakehill’s second goal.
Nonetheless, Villa responded with its fourth when Curtis McMillan hit Liknes, who was playing up front, with a nice cross and the big gunner drilled it in from 15 yards.
“Curt made a good run down the line,” said a happy Liknes, “and he passed one right to me above the penalty spot and it would have been harder to miss the net than it was to hit it. I hit it on the ground and didn’t really care where it went as long as it was between the posts.”
Now 4-2 Lakehill wasn’t done yet as a striker broke through the back line and let a rocket go that went in off the fingertips of Fitzgibbon at 82 minutes.
Villa’s youthful lineup still had lots of energy, however, and it exploded for two more goals, one by Brody Harry, who chased a loose ball right to an open net at 86 minutes, and then Nick van’t Schip who fired a low left-footer inside the far post at 88 minutes.
It was a fun way, against a good-natured side, for Villa to wrap up a frustrating season.
The team anticipated a higher standing in the third division but given the challenges of the ferry schedule and the young lineup, captain Dean Thorsell was somewhat satisfied. “Today we had small numbers but a good lineup, good movement off the ball and a couple of early goals really helped,” he said. “The players seemed to be calmer and having more fun out there today.”
Of the season, he said, “We didn’t meet our expectations, which was to finish at the top of the table and be promoted this year. Things didn’t work out the way we had hoped because of some injuries, work commitments and some unfortunate losses. When we have a full lineup we’re very strong, but on the days when key guys are missing we struggle.”
Looking ahead, he said, “It looks very promising next year. If we get the same guys we had this year plus a few others who want to start a new season with us I can see promotion in the near future.”
