Powell River Villa was successful in knocking off a top team at home last week and hoped to do it again on the road Saturday evening in Victoria.
Second-seeded Lakehill, however, is a big experienced club and it went into the match against Villa boasting an undefeated record of 3-0-3.
Powell River took 13 players on the trip but didn’t have a few key ones in the lineup like Kye Taylor, David Bertrand and Tristan Forseth.
Still, it got off to a good start and played evenly with Lakehill for the first 20 minutes.
At the 21st minute however, Lakehill took advantage of its size and got a head on a corner kick that deflected off a player and dribbled in for the only goal of the game.
Heavy rain and sloppy conditions prevented both sides from moving the ball around freely, but at the half Villa still felt as though it was in the game.
“Since they were the bigger team,” said Taylor, who was on the sidelines, “we wanted to keep the ball on the ground and try to move it quickly. We knew we were a little bit short-staffed and we knew they were a good team, but given the circumstances, going in 1-0 at the half we thought we were right in it.”
It looked like bigger and older Lakehill was slowing down to start the second half and Villa did begin to press more.
Up front, Jake Kenmuir and Sean Jenkins had some good driving runs and about 23 minutes into the half almost pulled even.
Jenkins snuck a through ball to Kenmuir who held his man off and took a shot from 15 yards that went off the wrong side of the post and bounced clear.
From that point on both teams had a couple of chances but nothing big until Lakehill was turned away by Matt Liknes.
He made a remarkable point-blank save to give Villa some hope of a comeback with 10 minutes to go, but his teammates weren’t able to take advantage.
Despite the loss, Taylor was pleased with the team’s effort on the road, particularly the fearless play of some of his young players.
They picked up three yellow cards, one of which Taylor said, “made us chuckle a bit. Young Brody Harry got a card when he knocked over one of their biggest guys, and he couldn’t be more than 140 pounds soaking wet.”
Taylor also liked Villa’s response after being down early. “We definitely bounced back better than the last game we played on the road,” he said. “We gave it a good chance and if we had gotten that bounce, it’s 1-1.”
The schedule becomes a little tougher next week when division leader Cowichan United comes to town at 1:30 pm, Sunday.
In fact Cowichan leads both division one and division two in the Vancouver Island Soccer League and has captured the Jackson Cup for the last two years.
“It’s largely because of Jordan Hughes,” said Villa manager Jamie Zroback of the former Victoria Highlander, “and if you can get a few all-stars to join your team it just snowballs.”
With the pair of Jackson Cup wins he said, “People automatically say ‘oh, if I play with them I can win a Jackson Cup.’”
The game promises be a good one at Timberlane Park, but what happens after could be even more fun for Villa fans.
A couple of players including Willy Cooke and Duncan McDougall will be there and it’s hoped that Villa alumni and fans will stop by the club house after the game to share food, drink and good memories.
