It’s official. Fernwood Town FC’s loss was Powell River Villa’s gain and that meant that last Sunday’s game against Penelakut United was more like a victory lap.
Villa scored a 4-0 shutout over the club from Penelakut Island, which is near Chemainus, but the score was irrelevant to the standings between the first- and last-place teams. It will be Villa who will move up to division two in the Vancouver Island Soccer League (VISL) next season.
Cranberry Field was in perfect condition on March 22 and the teams went back and forth for the first 10 minutes with neither pressing very hard.
Villa picked up the pace after that and started to get some chances with Jake Kenmuir in tight for a good shot and Billy Bagiopoulos crossing to Reese Unger who just missed on the near post.
Unger didn’t miss on his second chance however, when he beat his man and drove the ball off the near post and in at 22 minutes.
Kenmuir and Brody Harry kept applying the pressure minutes later but both were denied by the keeper who was kept very busy.
There were a couple more chances right after that when Bagiopoulos took a free kick from 35 yards out and Kye Taylor just missed with his header and Harry narrowly missed with a hard drive by the far post.
They did connect at 41 minutes when Kenmuir’s hard shot was saved by the keeper but the rebound was deposited from close range by Bagiopoulos.
Up 2-0 at the break Villa only got stronger in the second half and Harry got his goal when he pounded one in from close range off the post at 58 minutes.
It was a pretty easy day for Villa’s keeper Cory McCracken who finally got his first shot at 70 minutes. After his save Bagiopoulos picked up his second of the game with a deke and low shot to the keeper’s right.
He almost got the hat trick five minutes later with a hard shot that the keeper bobbled but recovered to keep from going in.
After the handshakes Villa players applauded their fans who supported them all year and now they hope to bring a Provincial Cup game back to Powell River.
“We just wanted to come out and use this as a tune-up game before provincials,” said coach Chris McDonough of the team’s last win of the year. “We had a few of our guys back who missed a couple of games,” he explained, “so we just wanted to get a good result and play the way we wanted, which we did.”
He acknowledged the effort of Penelakut United who, even though in last place, honoured its obligation to make the trip.
“They are a classy team,” he praised, “and we’ve gone down there and they’ve always put on a good show. They are always good sports and we knew they were going to come up today with a full team.”
Now that the regular season is over Villa turns its attention to the Provincial Cup draw.
“I played in Vancouver for 17 years,” said McDonough, “and I’m aware of most of the teams. The Richmond league is quite good, the VMSL [Vancouver Metro Soccer League] is quite good and usually the B Cup winners come from those leagues. We’ll have our hands full, but we’re going in and we want to win it. That’s our goal and we’re going to give it our best.”
Villa is one of four VISL teams who will join 20 other clubs for the various cup draws at 7 pm Monday, March 30 which will be streamed live on the Carlson Community Club big screen from the Sandman Signature Hotel in Langley.
“It would be nice to get a home match in the first round which is April 11 or 12,” said McDonough. He invited all interested soccer fans to join Villa at the Carlson Community Club for the draw.
Final Team Standings
# Team GP W L T GF GA Diff Pts
1 Powell River Villa 3B 15 12 2 1 47 12 35 37
2 Juan de Fuca 3B 16 10 4 2 41 43 -2 32
3 Fernwood Town FC 3B 15 10 4 1 39 23 16 31
4 Cordova Bay Red Barn Bobcats 3B 16 8 6 2 33 33 0 26
5 Alberni Athletics 3B 16 7 8 1 53 35 18 22
6 PLSC Lakers 3B 16 5 9 2 26 36 -10 17
7 FC Sagres 3B 15 4 8 3 32 31 1 15
8 Lakehill Danger Police 3B 16 3 10 3 18 39 -21 12
9 Penelakut United 3B 15 3 11 1 13 50 -37 10
