One day after the Cowichan Valley Capitals put an end to the Powell River Kings’ hockey season, Cowichan LMG did even worse to Powell River Villa.
Not only did Cowichan end Powell River’s soccer season, but they also sent the club from Div. 1 down to Div. 2.
Powell River needed a win to stay in the top tier of the Vancouver Island Soccer League, but last Saturday’s 0-0 draw against LMG will send Villa back to Div. 2 after a single season in Div. 1.
Saturday’s game was postponed from last month, when flooded roads prevented the Cowichan team from making the trip to Powell River. The rescheduled match was also nearly cancelled when a brief snowstorm made the drive to Comox for the ferry to Powell River treacherous.
“It was a scary drive through unplowed roads,” Cowichan defender Keevan Webb said. “I thought we were going to have to postpone the game again for sure.”
The sun broke through in time for the team to catch the boat, but once the game started, neither team was able to score. Powell River needed just a single goal, and kept pushing for breakaways, but were consistently stopped by Cowichan goalkeeper Darian Achurch. Cowichan, meanwhile, created a bigger variety of scoring chances, but also failed to solve the opposing keeper.
“We can’t win if we don’t score,” Cowichan coach Glen Martin noted. “It is nice to see us creating chances but none of that matters if the ball doesn’t end up in the net.”
Cowichan has one league game left against Nanaimo, which has yet to be scheduled. After that, the team will focus on the provincial tournament that starts in April. Cowichan will qualify for provincials if Div. 1 league champs Lakehill beat Div. 2 runners-up Victoria Highlanders in the Jackson Cup semifinals this coming weekend.