Over a dozen current and former Williams Lake residents left their fingerprints on the winning trophies at the Gibson’s Masters’ Vernon Soccer Tournament on the May long weekend.
There were a handful of lakecity players representing both the winning Over 35 Men’s team and Over 45 Men’s team. The two squads were an amalgamation of primarily former Williams Lake and Salmon Arm players who joined forces several years ago and go by the name LWO, after the former Live Wire nightclub in Salmon Arm. The LWO club are well known throughout the interior B.C. soccer scene for their fun antics and their over-the-top pageantry featuring their prominent colours black and yellow.
The LWO Over 45 team featured former Williams Lake hometown boys Jason Bremner, Ben Stanchfield, Adam Cornett, Mike Grace and Kelly Sherman. The Over 45 squad defeated Calgary in a shootout in Monday’s final after a 1-1 score line after regulation and overtime period required penalties.
The LWO Over 35 squad featured several members of the former Williams Lake Lightning team coached by Clark Glanville including Ryan Glanville, Sean Glanville, Karl Russell, Brad Hama, Geoff Buchanan, and Brent Dodge as well as current and former lakecity residents Rory Fogarty, Mikel Brogan and Luke Moger.
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The Williams Lake contingent took up most of the LWO starting lineup and defeated Vernon side Kidston Law 4-0 in the final on the strength of a three-goal performance from tournament leading scorer Ryan Glanville.
The Over 35’s toughest match was Sunday evenings semi final against another Vernon side Bob Ross FC in front of a loud beer garden.
The LWO were able to hold off a tough Bob Ross FC squad for a 1-0 shutout victory on the strength of a first half goal from Dave Knight.
The rock-solid defensive line which kept two clean sheets in the semi and final featured lakecity players Dodge, Sean Glanville, Buchanan and Fogarty.
The LWO achieved the tournament double championship the last time the tournament was held back in the summer of 2019 and needed to wait four long years due to Covid-19 before turning that into a hat trick this time around and turning Vernon black and yellow all over again.
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