The Lake City Secondary boys’ soccer team finished with a fantastic record on their way to placing fifth out of 12 teams at the Hope Secondary tournament last weekend.
The LCSS Falcons earned three wins, two draws and only one defeat in six games over the weekend.
“For most of these boys’ it was their first school sports tournament in two year due to COVID, so they were excited to get out of town and compete and represent their school,” said coach Sean Glanville.
“All the players exceeded my expectations and worked incredibly hard and many battled through injuries. We were able to get through six games in 24 hours with only two subs.”
The Falcons kicked off the tournament Friday against a strong Chilliwack Secondary team. Despite plenty of chances, the game finished in a 0-0 draw. Payton Burns picked up the shutout in goal.
In game two Williams Lake played back-to-back and hosts Hope Secondary jumped on them early and scored in the opening seconds to make it 1-0. Eventually the Falcons got their legs under them and managed to score four second half goals and earn a 5-1 victory. Ethan Reid and Jeremy Labelle led the offense with two goals each and Raiden Lainchbury tallied one.
In game three the Falcons needed to earn a victory over a strong Abbotsford team to play in the medal round Saturday. Unfortunately, Abbotsford took advantage of some LCSS defensive errors on their way to a 3-0 victory.
The Falcons would bounce back in their final group game to hammer Desert Sands Secondary from Ashcroft 5-2. Deven Neumann scored a hat trick for the Falcons while Reid and Lainchbury also found the back of the net.
The win gave the Falcons 22 out of a possible 40 points and would end up in the second tier playing for fourth to sixth place on Saturday.
In their fifth game Saturday the Falcons were able to come from 1-0 down to Clearwater Secondary to earn a hard fought 2-1 win. Neumann scored to tie the game up at 1-1 and Reid scored the winner on a header from a Garrett McIntyre throw. Sebastien Brommit made a game saving clearance in the final minute to preserve the win.
The Falcons found themselves in a re-match versus Chilliwack in their sixth and final game. Chilliwack took a 1-0 lead at the half but LCSS were able to equalize late in the game with a tricky finish from Mion Kinugasa to make it 1-1. Chilliwack would go on to win the shootout to leave LCSS in fifth place.
McIntyre and Reid earned All-Star T-shirts for their efforts. Other members of the squad who all performed admirably include Felix Plavic, Elijah Walker, Bodi Bluda, Adam Holtom and Tyler Luijks.
Next action for the boys will be Oct. 22/23 at the Merritt Secondary Tournament.
“This team had a lot of potential and for us to compete with a big Fraser Valley school like Chilliwack Secondary and earn two draws was huge for our confidence,” added Glanville.
“We also have several talented soccer players that couldn’t attend Hope but should bolster our line up for the Merritt tourney.”