ALDERGROVE – Nelson 2, Prince George 0
Submitted by Chris Richards, Assistant Coach, U18B Selects
PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that I have got that out of the way.
To start with Keith and I discussed the man of the match and could not agree on one player. From our starters to our players on the bench they all had the games of their life, hence would be unfair to give this to someone.
The team had played PG once before in Kamloops and lost 4-0. In that loss though we had 3 of our 4 center mids injured plus a couple of others. So, not to say that they underestimated us coming into this game but they definitely were not expecting the performance that came at them. Keith and I watched one of their games on the Saturday to get a feel for the team that we were playing. We noticed that they really like to play the wings and were really dependent on this. So we set up our formation to counter this playing a 4-5-1. With our center mids helping out with defending the wings. We also told our team to get right in their faces as quick as possible so not to give them time. We also had Jim Stephenson and Shaun Hickson back from a rugby camp.
So, come game time I have to admit the butterflies in my stomach had been flying for a good three hours. To say I was nervous was an understatement. We lined up and off we went. Well, first 10 minutes they were all over us. We looked a little panicked, but with Christian Desrosiers (Tuni,) and Dylan Zaitsoff at the heart of our defense and Kevin Lewis and Shawn Hickson on the right and left we never once looked like conceding. We weathered their onslaught and as the water break approached, we started to get the game under control.
Our first chance of the game fell to Shawn Hickson. A corner came in and they left him unmarked at the backpost about 12 yards out. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the best of connections and sent it into the side netting. From there they never looked like coming back at us. We closed the ball down so quickly, our runs were amazing and precise. They closed the wings down, didn’t allow them to play at all. We got to half time and sent them out a little more attacking minded. And holy crap you watch beautiful soccer on the TV and you say wow but when its played right in front of you, it’ absolutely astonishing. The boys put out a performance that would scare any team anywhere in the world. The balls out from our keeper we touched back first time to a midfielder that had sagged behind into space, who was playing it out onto the wings first time, who was then crossing first time. It was the most incredible soccer I have ever seen.
It was shown how much it meant to the boys about 55 minutes in. Andrew Meidrich (Puss Puss,) went from one end of the field to the other two times covering about 350 metres at a full sprint and in the defensive end came up with two crunching challenges at the end their chance of any counter attack. This turned into our first goal. After one of those crunching challenges the ball squirted lose to Eric Norberg (Banger,) who switched the ball to Luke Mori, who was on a charge down the other wing. He got to the touchline and after coming into the area a little he squared the ball across to an on rushing Byron Rokeby-Thomas to tap into the open net. Our bench went wild and the nerves finally settled a little bit. After, PG were reeling a little bit and didn’t really know what had hit them. And again it paid of Eric again the maestro, with a little chip over the top giving it to a sprinting Byron. Then as he blazed past one defender cutting inside the area heading to the near post, Luke Mori and Jules Chopin surged to the center of the net. The keeper was lost had no idea what to do, Byron caught him cheating looking for the pass, and slotted into the open near side. Again the bench went wild. We settled down after this and played a possession game, which really started to get to PG because no matter how hard they worked, our passing was too precise and too quick for them. At the water break we reminded them that we still had 20mins left, to keep cool and to just keep doing what they were doing… and they did. Again, the passing was crisp, the tackles were firm but fair. Not once did we look like we’d be losing this game. The biggest testament to how well we played was tha, Kean Silverthorne had to make one save all game. Our defense was so strong, our mids were so quick, precise and strong, and our forwards did everything that was asked of them.
So the final whistle went we all charged down to our keeper and I can’t even describe the feeling. To the point where I still have the huge grin on my face! Then the point where we lifted the trophy, again the feeling was incredible.
It has been a pleasure coaching these boys through out the season and Keith and I will be sad to see them move on. But I’ sure this is a memory they will hold with them for years to come.
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