The LV Rogers boys soccer team came out on top after a weekend tournament against teams from Trail and Cranbrook.
LVR won 2-0 against Trail. “It was a very physical game,” said coach Simon Liddell. Goal scorers were Jonah Thiele and Nigel Ziegler.
Cranbrook then went on to beat Trail 3-0.
LVR was up 2-0 until the last four minutes of the game against Cranbrook, who managed to bring the gamer to a tie.
Liddell described the action as the game neared to its end.
“With the sun falling low behind the [Cranbrook team] they made a shot which careened off two players, then up and over our keeper Ryder Marzicola.”
Then with one minute to go another shot snuck through the Nelson netbringing the final score to 2-2.
“Again our defence was very good,” said Liddell, “and neither Trail nor Cranbrook had any easy chances.”
Lead by Jesse Thurston and Juna Williams as their centre backs, David Grey scored a goal against Cranbrook and Jaden Dyck scored the other.
This year’s LVR team is made up of many Grade 10’s, and are doing well even though a higher ratio of younger players could place them on a bit of an uneven playing field when competing.
“They are holding their own against teams made up of more Grade 12 players,” said coach Simon Liddell. “We are young this year but still managed to rank second in the Kootenays. I think this is a testament to the quality of players coming up under the Whitecaps system.”
Invermere has the top ranking, Trail is ranked third, followed by Creston and Golden.
The Nelson team will have a chance to make the Provincials next week when they play in Trail at the zone play downs.
"It is basically a winner take all situation with the winner off to Burnaby for the provincials," said Liddell.
The Trail tournament will be made up of four teams with Creston playing Golden some time this week for the final spot.
[Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that LVR won 3-0 against Cranbrook, when in fact they tied.]