They may not be heading to provincials, but the Port Hardy Secondary School senior boys soccer side can hold their heads up after falling to tough competition in the Island A tournament at the Cowichan Sportsplex.
The North Island side faced Victoria’s St. Andrew’s Wednesday, which, along with Glenlyon-Norfolk, represented the pair to beat in the tournament.
The local side held the down-Islanders scoreless for the opening 20 minutes with a defensive 5-4-1 formation but an unlucky deflection paved the way for a 6-0 St. Andrew’s victory.
“We played really hard for 20 minutes,” explained coach Mike Cleary. “We were just starting to get some momentum, starting to attack and we were getting some shots on net.”
That momentum was stunted when a deflection off a corner ended up in the PHSS net. “You could see the wind come out of our sail,” said Cleary. “We lost our momentum, the goal gave them a confidence boost and they scored two more.”
Facing 3-0 at half-time the local side came out with a more aggressive stance in the second half, chasing the deficit, but the Victoria side took advantage of the extra room and found three more in the second half.
Tristan Swain-Walkus got the nod as the team’s all-star for his performance.
The side faced Dwight International in the consolation game and were disappointed to lose out 4-2 on penalties after tying 1-1 in regulation.
Riley Nelson scored for the local side after Darryl Coon burst forward and followed up his shot to set up a poacher’s goal for Nelson.
Glenlyon-Norfolk emerged as champions, beating St. Andrew’s 5-4 in extra time. Both sides advance to the provincials in Nakusp Nov. 6-8.