Monday’s men’s soccer final in the competitive division of the Kamloops Invitational Tournament between Norvan (North Vancouver) and TRU Alumni (Kamloops) featured plenty of Williams Lake content.
Three lakecity players took part as both Sean and Ryan Glanville donned a TRU jersey and Brent Dodge laced up the boots for Norvan.
What most were expecting to be a close final Monday afternoon at Macarthur Island Park turned into a blowout as TRU went on to a convincing 5-0 win.
For the Glanville brothers, it put an end to losing in heartbreaking fashion at the tournament for the past nine years.
“We started coming to this tournament in 2006 and every year we’ve been eliminated in a shootout in either the semi final or final, so part of me felt like I was cursed to never win the tournament,” said Ryan Glanville. “This year we didn’t have to go to penalties which was nice.”
TRU defeated Latin America FC from Vancouver in game one Saturday 3-1 before downing two-time defending champions Estrella de Chile of Vancouver 3-1 in game two late Saturday.
In game three Sunday morning TRU downed Medicine Hat College Rattlers 5-0 with Ryan Glanville pacing the offence with the opening two goals.
TRU’s lost their final round-robin game Sunday afternoon, a preview of Monday’s final, 2-0 to Norvan. Over half the TRU roster was attending a wedding and they were forced to play shorthanded.
All three lakecity players were members of the Williams Lake Lightning soccer team coached by Clark Glanville which had plenty of success at the amateur levels. Both Ryan Glanville and Dodge played university soccer together and were teammates on the 2005 National Champion UBC Thunderbirds team.