For the past three years Richard Fast has experienced the daily pleasure of staring at the Unwin trophy, symbolic of the Island triple-A senior boys鈥� soccer championship.
But the Oak Bay Bays coach had to turn it over on Thursday as the Reynolds Roadrunners delivered a 1-0 win on the Bays鈥� home pitch.
Santi Calderon scored the only goal of the game just before halftime on a corner serviced by Sam Fletcher.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad, finally, that we get to keep it in our trophy case for the year and we鈥檙e really proud of that,鈥� said Reynolds coach J.J. Atterbury. 鈥淗opefully, we can keep it going, and this is a great springboard into the Colonist Cup and provincials.鈥�
The same two teams will battle Tuesday at Braefoot at 3 p.m. in one of the Colonist Cup semis. Both also advance to the provincials in Burnaby, Nov. 24-26.
鈥淚t was a nice win, a good competitive match. Oak Bay battled hard, right to the end, and we have a lot of respect for those guys. The depth of our squad showed today. I thought our first half, in particular, was really good, and we gutted it out,鈥� said Atterbury.
鈥淥ur back four played really well. Our two centre backs, Sylvain [Taghaoussi] and Josh [Lamothe], did a great job and our central midfield also did a great job.鈥�
Diego Del Castillo had two great chances to tie for the Bays. One just missed the intended target and goalkeeper Aaron Acker-Cavalcanit thwarted the other.
鈥淲e gave everything we had, we just fell a little short. They were better today and deserved to win,鈥� said Fast. 鈥淭he trophy was looking pretty good in my office, but they are worthy champions.鈥�
Oak Bay defeated Dover Bay 3-1 in the morning to qualify for the final and earn the berth to provincials. Reynolds downed Nanaimo District 5-1 in the final round-robin game in the morning.
鈥淲e鈥檇 like to get all three,鈥� Fletcher said, referring to the Island, sa国际传媒 and Colonist Cup titles. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get the league [regular-season title], which was kind of [frustrating].鈥�
That title went to St. Michaels University School, which will face Glenlyon Norfolk School in the other Colonist Cup semi Tuesday at 3 p.m. at UVic.
Brentwood toppled SMUS 2-1 in double-A Island semifinals on Thursday, before falling short 2-1 in penalty kicks in the final to host Carihi. Both finalists advance to the provincial championship, along with SMUS, which finished third, Nov. 21-23 in Burnaby.
