With Bays United winning the Jackson Cup and Saanich Fusion the regular-season championship, Cowichan FC seemed the forgotten team this season in the Vancouver Island Soccer League.
But nobody can ignore it now. The last remaining chance to have an Island team in the sa国际传媒 men鈥檚 A Province Cup championship game May 11 at Westhills Stadium in Langford rests with Cowichan.
The lads from the Cowichan Valley travelled to the Fraser Valley to edge top-seeded Langley 2-1 Sunday in the quarter-finals, rallying from behind to steal victory with late goals by Kevin Brown at 83 minutes and Dan Cato off a Kevin Jones cross in injury time.
Bays United鈥檚 dreams of adding the Province Cup to the Jackson Cup came crashing to the turf in West Vancouver with a 5-2 loss. Saanich Fusion, meanwhile, was eliminated in the first round, as was Jackson Cup runner-up Lakehill Reds.
Cowichan FC doesn鈥檛 have to leave the Island again. It will host West Vancouver in the semifinals on Sunday at 3 p.m. at McAdam Park. Lose and it鈥檚 over. But with victory comes a berth in the Province Cup final next month at Westhills Stadium against the winner of a semifinal between the Vancouver Thunderbirds and defending champion Surrey United Firefighters, the latter led by sa国际传媒-capped former Vancouver Whitecap pros Jeff Clarke and Steve Kindel.
鈥淲e would have liked to have won the Jackson Cup, as we did the previous two years, and also the regular-season title to get a seed. But as it turned out, third place ended up being the best placing in terms of the draw,鈥� said former NCAA all-conference standout and European pro Tyler Hughes of Cowichan FC.
鈥淲e were the underdog against Langley, as we usually have been in the playoffs this season, but we鈥檙e still on track to our goal.鈥�
The last Island team to win the Province Cup was Gorge FC in 2010.
Meanwhile, two Island teams advanced to the women鈥檚 A Province Cup semifinals and one step closer to appearing in the championship game at Westhills on May 11.
Prospect Lake edged Coquitlam Xtreme 2-1 in the quarter-finals Sunday at Layritz Park, while Castaways blanked Richmond 1-0 at Goudy Field on a first-half goal by Meaghan Barney.
Castaways now face a daunting task on Sunday in the semifinals away to the nine-time defending Province Cup champion Surrey United.
鈥淒efence and teamwork are the keys,鈥� said Castaways coach Natalie Work, about the prospects of her club recording one of the biggest upsets in years.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to do some of the things we didn鈥檛 do last year against them [in losing to Surrey United in the 2012 Province Cup playdowns].鈥�
Work admitted the odds seem formidable.
鈥淏ut anything can happen in soccer on any given day,鈥� she said.
The Province Cup Under-21 and Masters championship games will also be played May 11 at Westhills Stadium.
