The Peter Skene Ogden (PSO) Eagles senior boys soccer team turned plenty of heads at the 16-team Sa-Hali Sabres Invitational Tournament on Sept. 29-30.
The tournament featured four Kamloops squads, teams from Quesnel, 100 Mile House, Kelowna, Summerland and eight Lower Mainland teams, including five Surrey squads, and teams from Delta, Burnaby and Chilliwack.
The Eagles were swimming in the deep end being placed in a pool of four with defending tournament champions and perennial powerhouse Panorama Ridge from Surrey, tourney hosts and last year's Provincial AA Championship runner-up Sa-Hali along with Surrey Christian.
“This tournament featured many of the top teams in the province and I was a little worried we would get smoked, but after the tournament, we realistically had a chance to win four out of our five games,” says coach Sean Glanville.
“We were playing against Lower Mainland schools with thousands of students and established soccer programs and our guys gave them all they could handle. I couldn't have been happier with how the boys performed and my expectations of them are now much higher.”
Their opening game Thursday against Panorama Ridge started off poorly as the Eagles surrendered an own goal early on to trail 1-0.
However, the Eagles hung in there against the Surrey side and were able to stay competitive. The 100 Mile House lads were missing their regular goalkeeper Lukas Waldner and Michael Nielsen filled in admirable making some key saves, Glanville says.
With about five minutes left, Eagles defender Noah Nicol was moved on the forward line as a third attacker and moments later he challenged the goalie and the ball squirted loose and he was able to finish with a tough left-footed shot from a sharp angle to earn the Eagles a 1-1 tie.
“After the game a lot of people had to do a double take when I told them the result, they were quite impressed with us and our program earned a ton of respect,” said Glanville.
Game 2 was the only disappointment over the weekend for the Eagles. They dropped a 5-1 decision to Sa-Hali. Again, Nicol was the Eagles lone goal scorer.
“After such a great first game, I think there was a bit of an emotional letdown from the boys and they were not ready to play for game 2 and we erased it from our memory.”
In the Eagles' final round-robin game, they bounced back to defeat Surrey Christian 3-0 on the strength of a pair of goals from Patrick Walker and Nicol tallied in his third consecutive game. Nielsen and Lee Machete combined for the shutout in goal.
The Eagles placed third in Pool A and would play for ninth-12th place. In their fourth game on Friday morning, PSO was pitted against Pacific Academy also of Surrey. Unfortunately, central defender Sean Mason couldn’t play due to a hip flexor and midfielder Curtis Craig Green injured his ankle leaving the Eagles having to alter their starting lineup.
Reid Davidson got the Eagles off to a great start ripping a shot top corner to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Pacific Academy would equalize before half time and eventually score the winning goal on a free kick late in the second half to earn a 2-1 win, Glanville explains.
“The free kick the ref awarded I thought was a bogus call, it was disappointing but it happens. We're not a deep team, so when we lose two starters we really felt the effects.”
In the Eagles final game, they played their fourth Surrey opposition in the five games, this time kicking off against Queen Elizabeth Royals. The Eagles fell behind 2-0 after 20 minutes but late in the first half Walker got the Eagles back into the game with a shot from the corner of the 18-yard-box that tucked inside the post to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Eagles really dominated the run of play for the final few minutes of the game and pushed hard for an equalizer but had settled for a 2-1 defeat and took 12th place overall, the coach notes.
The defensive line which consisted of three Grade 10 students, including Adam Sullivan, Mason Sanders and Cameron Ardiel along with Sean Mason played phenomenal all weekend, Glanville added. “The grade 10s at the back already play so intelligently I rarely need to give them feedback and having them for two more seasons is reassuring to the program.”
Nicol from Fraser Lake and Kurt Wandler from Houston are the two new welcome additions from last year.
“These boys really add a new dimension to the team. With them we have a well-oiled starting 11 that can compete with the top teams in the province.”
Ty Langton, Luke Jewitt, Hunter O'Connor, Stephen Theodor-Jensen, Lynden Walker and Jason Watkins rounded out the roster and made solid contributions.