The L.V. Rogers boys soccer team was a cut above the rest last weekend at the Brawl in the Fall tournament in Creston
The team won all four of its games without giving up a goal.
“We kicked some butt,” said co-coach Jamie Spendlove. “We are super proud of the boys. No one was in the same level.”
On the opening day, LVR downed Invermere 6-0 and Grand Forks 4-0. On the second day, despite playing without any subs — and fielding a roster that included two Grade 9s — they beat Trail 6-0.
In the final against Cranbrook, they tied 0-0 and then won on penalty kicks.
“That was a credit to us because they’re an AAA school,” Spendlove says. “They parked the bus the whole time, sitting in front of their own net trying to keep us out.”
Spendlove singled out the exceptional play of Ryan Lewis, Ethan Perkins, Shota Ida, and Cole Sutherland, who stopped three attempts in the shootout.
It’s the second straight year LVR has won the tournament. The team has a wide mix of ages, but only a couple of players in Grade 12.
“The younger boys did fantastic,” Spendlove says. “That’s why we go to this tournament, to bring them into the system. It’s a training tournament for us, really.”
While Spendlove expected they would be the top team, he didn’t anticipate a scoreless final against Cranbrook.
LVR has three more tournaments before playdowns, of increasingly higher calibre. Their next outing is in Cranbrook on October 4 to 5, where Spendlove says they should do well. Following that, they head to Summerland, where they placed third last year, and then finish the season in Kelowna at a tournament put on by UBC Okanagan, where they’ll face many AAA schools.
Spendlove is counting on a return to the AA provincials, where they came in 10th last year.