It took a while for Powell River Villa to get into Jackson Cup action, but the result after game one was certainly worth waiting for.
Its opponent after a first-round bye was Cowichan United 2 and after a cancellation due to field conditions the game was finally played on Saturday afternoon.
Villa made the trip to Vancouver Island without Dean Thorsell and Scott Hobson. This left the team a little thin on the back line so the lineup was juggled to include Reid Philip.
Cowichan started off very strong and pressured for about 10 minutes of the opening half, but Villa gradually began to claw back and had a number of good chances to score.
Songmun Choi broke free of the last defender but he didn’t get enough on his shot to beat the keeper. Kyle Vasseur also had a similar break but he too failed to beat the keeper and the first half ended tied 0-0.
One of the highlights of the first half, and an indication of things to come, was the five yellow cards picked up by Villa.
Philip picked up one of them early in the game and, just as coach Jamie Zroback was making up a sub slip for Philip with a minute to go in the half, he received his second yellow and was sent off the pitch.
Down to 10 men at the half Zroback told his team, “We have to finish our chances and should have been up 3-0, but don’t panic.”
Each side pushed the other but neither could capitalize on its chances during the 90 minutes of regulation, which ended 0-0.
In the meantime, cards kept coming and in the first overtime Brandon Knox received his second yellow card and his departure meant Villa was down to nine men with 20 minutes to go.
“I think they got two cards,” said Zroback, “and we got 10. It was a crazy, crazy game.”
The remaining overtime was played without a goal scored which meant the game would be decided by each team taking five penalty kicks.
Villa keeper Matt Liknes stepped right up to ask Zroback if he could take the first kick.
“Through my youth days I never missed a penalty shot,” he said, “and so I thought why would I miss one then?”
Cowichan scored on their first shot when Liknes dove the wrong way but he did indeed step up to even the score 1-1 when the goalie left early and he went to the other side.
He saved the next Cowichan shot and Taylor’s shot missed wide right to stay 1-1.
Liknes saved the next shot and Villa’s Choi scored when his hard shot hit the keeper but wiggled in.
Now 2-1 for Villa, Cowichan’s next shooter hit the crossbar and Zroback missed on his attempt.
Just one more shot for both teams but Villa wouldn’t have to try when Cowichan hit the crossbar for the second time in a row.
“It felt pretty awesome,” said Liknes of his game-winning performance. “We were all yelling and doing our thing in the change room, singing the victory song.”
Zroback sang his praises saying, “Remember when Cory [McCracken] stole games for us? Well, this was a game that Matt stole for us and it was so awesome because both the coach and keeper coach for VIU [Vancouver Island University] were there and they would be nuts if they didn’t give him serious consideration.”
Looking ahead Villa will be without Philip and Knox for its next Jackson Cup match at 5:15 pm on Saturday, March 10 against Prospect Lake Lakers 1 at Brooks Turf field, but Zroback said there is a raft of kids ready to play. “Everybody that went with us this week had to step it up and they had to raise their levels and they did. I’m confident they’ll do it again next week.”
