Williams Lake Lightning repeated as champions at the 52nd annual Penticton Pacific Western Brewery Invitational Tournament over the May long weekend. The tournament featured 12 teams from across B.C. and Alberta.
Williams Lake won a hard-fought final 3-2 Monday afternoon versus the hometown Penticton Pinnacles. The U-21 Pinnacles which participate in the Pacific Coast Soccer League were looking for a measure of revenge on Williams Lake who defeated them 1-0 in the final the previous year.
Penticton went ahead 1-0 early in the first half before Justin Wallace and Kyle Halverson answered for Williams Lake to give them a 2-1 half-time lead. Geoff Buchanan scored early in the second half to put the Lightning up 3-1. About midway through the second half Penticton was awarded a penalty shot which they converted to cut the lead to 3-2. Then moments later a Lightning defender was red-carded leaving Williams Lake to finish the final 20 minutes down to 10 men. There were some nail-biting moments down the stretch but Williams Lake keeper Dale Latin made some fantastic saves to preserve the win. Central defender Brent Dodge was rock solid in the victory as well.
This is the fourth overall Penticton title for Williams Lake as they repeated as champions back in 2006 and 2007.
Williams Lake breezed through the round-robin portion of the competition with convincing wins over Polonia FC of Edmonton, the Destroyers from Penticton, and Courvas from Salmon Arm. Ryan Glanville, Sean Glanville, and Luke Moger were the Lightning’s top scorers through the round-robin with three goals each.
Next up for the Lightning is the Revelstoke Big Bear Classic Father’s Day weekend in June. The Lightning have won the tournament five consecutive years.