The two-time defending champions from Williams Lake travelled to Penticton for the 53rd annual Pacific Western Brewery Soccer Tournament last weekend.
This year’s squad was mixed with many current and former players from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops with many of the Williams Lake regulars absent due to work commitments and travelling abroad.
Williams Lake breezed through the round-robin portion of the tournament with a perfect 3-0 win-loss record.
They opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Vancouver Legends on Saturday.
The lakecity followed that up with a 4-1 win over Langley and 5-0 triumph against Richmond to earn a place in Monday’s gold-medal game.
For the third consecutive tournament, Williams Lake battled the home team Penticton Pinnacles in Monday’s final.
The previous year the lakecity earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory and were hoping for a similar result this time around.
The Pinnacles, who play in the semi-professional Pacific Coast Soccer League, jumped on Williams Lake early with some scoring chances but were unable to cash in.
Williams Lake’s Ty Hough scored 15 minutes in on a goalkeeper miscue to put the visitors up 1-0 going into halftime.
In the second half Williams Lake’s Luke Moger scored the goal of the tournament on a left-footed blast from 25 yards out which proved to be the eventual game winner as the lakecity went on to win 3-1.
Moger was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.
“Penticton is a very fast and dangerous team but we defended well and had solid goaltending,” said Williams Lake’s Sean Glanville.
“With each passing year they must think they’re eventually going to crack the code and beat us but we seem to step up our game and find a way to win.”
It’s the second time Williams Lake has won the tournament three consecutive years, turning the trick from 2006-08 and again from 2012-14; Estrella de Chile of Vancouver won four consecutive years between the lakecity three-peats.
Other Williams Lake players on the roster included Sean Glanville, Ryan Glanville, Dale Latin and Brent Dodge.
Next up for Williams Lake is the Big Bear Classic in Revelstoke June 14-15 where they will look to win for a sixth consecutive time.