It was a case of Murphy's Law for Nelson Selects at Provincial B U18 Boys Cup — team settles for silver medal
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr
The Nelson Daily Sports
The planets appeared to be aligned in the right place, the Selects had won the division to advance to the final and the players seemed poised to repeat as Provincial B Cup winners.
However, anything that could go wrong — including the coach getting ejected — did go wrong as the Nelson Selects lost 5-1 to Chilliwack in the final of the B.C. Soccer U18 Boy’s Provincial B Cup Sunday in Penticton.
“Officiating aside, my guys were ready to play and could have put on a much more enjoyable and competitive match if given the freedom to play football not this B.C. version of a game that is becoming a sort of ballet,” a disappointed Keith Williams told The Nelson Daily after returning from the South Okanagan.
“Tennis has more contact these days,” added Williams, less than impressed with the man in the middle of the contest.
“Chilliwack was obviously a gifted team with two PCSL players in their midfield and gifted finishing. On our best day we could defeat them, unfortunately we didn’t put forward our best performance in the final and when we began to play the officiating destroyed any chance of flow and momentum.”
Unfortunately, Nelson decided to leave their game in the parking lot. The slow start allowed Chilliwack to grab a 3-0 lead at half.
Playing much better to begin the second half, Nelson saw Garrett Bowman ejected for a second yellow card — the second time for a phantom call.
After Andrew Woodward was injured during a collision, back up keeper Mitch Melanson was whistled for an infraction in the penalty area. Chilliwack converted to go up 4-0.
The game deteriorated more when the Chilliwack captain spat on Nelson forward Carsen Willans
Williams decided to approach the game referee to question why there was no call on the play and was immediately ejected.
“Many things were out of control at this point, I deemed it necessary to enter the pitch during the water break to discuss the spitting with the center official as the side line official was not hearing my complaint,” Williams explained.
“My comments fell on deaf ears and was tossed from the pitch for entering the field of play during the water break.”
Nelson lost two addition players before, playing with eight players, Erik Norberg found the net for Nelson.
Chilliwack scored an additional goal to complete the scoring.
Nelson opened with wins over Bulkley Valley, 2-1, and host Penticton Pinnacles, 5-0, to advance to the final.
Luke Mori, Melanson, Michael Hii, Willans and Norberg scored for Nelson against Penticton.
Mori and Kevin Lewis scored against Bulkley Valley.
“I personally am a little embarrassed as to how I let myself get ejected in such a important game,” Williams admitted.
“I however could not let acts such as spitting go unnoticed in any game anywhere. I applaud Carsen for not retaliating; God only knows how I would react to being spit on.
“Looking at the placing, I feel good where we ended up,” Williams added. “ We couldn’t defeat Chilliwack on this day but had demonstrated we are better than Bulkley Valley so the placement is accurate.
“Which is not always the case in Provincial tournaments.”
GOAL KICKS: Luke Mori has accepted an invitation to the University of Calgary Dino in the fall. Mori has been given a red-shirt position, but has the opportunity to change that to a roster spot on the team following a good camp in August. . . . Most of the squad was part of the first gold medal team in eight years last year when Nelson defeated Prince George 2-0 in Aldergrove.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
