THE Capilano University men's soccer team scored silver on the weekend at the Pacwest provincial championships, falling just short of gold in a contentious 2-1 loss to Vancouver Island University in the tournament final.
The silver showing was quite a turnaround for the Blues who battled on the final weekend of the regular season just to make the playoffs before fighting to 1-0 victories over Langara and the University of Northern British Columbia in the playoff tournament to reach the final in Kelowna. Capilano's run ended there, however, with VIU defending their title from last season and earning a trip to the national championships in Quebec City.
"Those guys, they gave me everything they had all weekend," said Blues head coach Paul Dailly after the tournament. "It's a tough task to go in and win three games in a row in three days. . . . They left everything they had on that field and each and every one of them should be very proud of themselves and keep their heads held high."
Dailly was not happy with the officiating in the final game.
Against VIU the Blues believed they had taken a 1-0 lead early in the game on a goal-line play but no goal was awarded. A few minutes later Capilano suffered their only defensive lapse of the tournament, allowing two goals in a span of five minutes. Trailing 2-0 going into the second half, Capilano fought back with a goal from substitute Chris Diabikulu to make it 2-1. The Blues pressed the rest of the way but came up short while continuing to battle with the referee - midfielder Nathaniel Blaiklock earned his second yellow card and was ejected after a foul with 15 minutes left to play. Still pressing while down a man, the Blues thought they'd earned a penalty shot in the dying minutes after a VIU defender appeared to handle the ball in the penalty area but no penalty was called. Midfielder Vaughn Andrews was shown a red card for protesting the call and time ran out for the Blues with only nine men left on the field.
"The guys had a great tournament, three great games up there," said Dailly. "It was just unfortunate we didn't get a call here or there, we didn't get a bounce here or there. I think they deserved better in the end but unfortunately that's what happened in the game."
The Blues lost focus for a few minutes and paid for it by giving up two goals but other than that they carried the play, said Dailly.
"It was just kind of an unfortunate run of events there, three minutes where we just lost focus or whatever we did and from then on in it was pretty much our guys taking the run of play to them," he said. "Even playing with 10 guys - credit to our guys, they didn't quit, they left absolutely everything they had on the field. . . . Our guys were pushing forward, pushing, pushing, pushing trying for that equalizer. We had them on their heels for most of the second half there and unfortunately couldn't find that second one."
Lucas Sweda, named the tournament's top forward, scored the decisive goal in Capilano's quarterfinal win over Langara, taking a cross down with a nifty touch and rifling a volley into the net four minutes into the second half.
Against UNBC super-sub Diabikulu scored the game winner with about six minutes left in the game. The semifinal win for Capilano avenged a loss to UNBC for the Blues in last year's provincial championships.
Dailly credited his backline, led by Handsworth grad Taku Bradshaw, for their back-to-back shutouts and strong showing throughout the tournament. "He was unreal all weekend, all three games," said Dailly. "Nobody got by him, he was making every tackle and also helping us on the offensive end as well. For me he was hands down the MVP."
The Blues were young this year, featuring only four returning players from 2010, but they should have a lot of players back next year and they'll be hungry to make amends for missing gold, said Dailly.
"It's never easy to lose in the final like that, it hurts, especially under the circumstances," he said. "I hope to have all of them back for next year and we can make another good run at this."
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Bradshaw earned a spot as a Pacwest first-team all-star while Sweda and defender Adam Staschuk were both named second-team all-stars. On the women's side Cherelle Khassel earned Pacwest rookie of the year honours while she and Kristi Sharp were named second-team all-stars.
