A big finish carried the Juan de Fuca Division 3A men’s team to a whole lot of glory Friday night at Hampton Park in Saanich.
After Spencer Davis scored on a free kick play to make it 1-1 in the 84th minute, teammate Kane Johnston bagged the winner in injury time to give the West Shore-based side a 2-1 victory over the host Gorge Us Guys in the final Division 3A match of the Vancouver Island Soccer League regular season.
The win not only secured top spot in the division for JdF (12-1-3) ahead of second-place Gorge (11-4-1), it clinched a berth in the 2017 Provincial B Cup championship tournament as well as ensured their promotion to Div. 2 next season.
“As soon as we scored (our first goal) they had nothing left in the tank, because they needed a win (to capture the division title),” Juan de Fuca coach Matt Connaroe said, spelling out the scenario.
Playing on home turf in front of a good-sized crowd, Gorge scored six minutes in when John Bakowski connected on a screen shot from just outside the box. While the boys in red carried the play for much of the first half, Juan de Fuca had their chances, only to be stymied by solid play from Gorge goalkeeper Matt Cooke.
The home side had a glorious chance to make it 2-0 at the 30-minute mark, when Brandon White was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down in the box. But his shot rang off the crossbar and was cleared out of danger by the JdF keeper.
“Had we scored that and went up on them 2-0, I don’t think they could have come back,” said Gorge coach Geoff Pakos. “The plan was just sort of to keep our pressure up, but what happened was our guys got a bit tired and started to fall back.”
Given more room to build their attack, Juan de Fuca took the game to Gorge in the second half, with a healthy complement of substitutions available.
Davis’ goal, which culminated a period of sustained pressure by Juan de Fuca, took the wind out of the Gorge sails.
Johnston, who had come in midway through the first half, followed up the tying goal about five minutes later when he ripped a hard, curling shot to the top corner that Cooke could barely got a hand on.
Despite having a strong bench to spell off the starters, the champs were missing key midfielders Chris Wardle – a Victoria Shamrocks lacrosse player and Colorado Mammoth NLL pro player – and Gord Johnson, who is out with a broken ankle.
Juan de Fuca isn’t expected to play its first round provincial match until later in April, Connaroe said. The other South Island qualifiers will be the Div. 3B champion – Fernwood Town and Mid-Isle Mariners are currently battling for the crown – and the winners of the two VISL Challenge Cup tournaments. Both Juan de Fuca and Gorge Us Guys have already been eliminated from those competitions.
Moving up to Div. 2 isn’t expected to be a huge jump for Juan de Fuca, Connaroe added. The team has played a couple of exhibition games against Div. 2 sides this year and held their own. And last season they beat fellow West Shore side Westcastle United in the McGavin Cup play.
“I think the better (JdF) under-21 guys are going to come through and want to join the Div. 2 club,” he said of the potential for newcomers to step up.
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