(Metro Vancouver) - After a thrilling last game of the season in Squamish (October 21)which resulted in the Kwantlen Eagles Men’s Soccer Team qualifying for Provincial Championships, the Eagles returned to Squamish this past weekend as the fourth and final ranked team to compete in the 2012 PACWEST Provincial Soccer Championships, hosted by Quest University.
At the end of the regular season games, fourth-ranked Kwantlen Eagles were matched up against first-ranked Douglas College Royals in the semi-final match. The Royals were first to the scoreboard when a smartly executed corner kick in the 20th minute opened up the game. The Royals responded a second time 10 minutes later with a dribble past the Eagles’ backline to go into the half with a 2-0 lead. The second half showed great intensity and back-and-forth ball movement up and down the pitch from both teams. It was not until the end of the game when some rapid fire goals from both teams would solidify the result. The Royals started the seesaw battle in the 83rd minute with a shot from an awkward angle to beat Eagle goalie, Kevin Shaheri (Richmond). However, it was only a short minute later when Eagles’ forward, Jacob Starheim (Delta) would take the ball and dribble past two centre backs and execute a perfect strike to put the Eagles on the board for the first time in the match. In the 88th minute, Douglas would penetrate the Eagles’ defense once again for their fourth goal of the game and end the game at a 4-1 score. Kevin Taheri was named the Player of the Game for the Eagles.
After a disappointing semi-final result, the Eagles qualified to play in the bronze medal game against 3rd-ranked Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Wolfpack on Sunday, October 28th. The Wolfpack opened up the floodgates early scoring their first goal in the first fifteen minutes. The opening goal came from a header off of a scrambled ball from just inside the Eagles’ box. Only a minute later, an unlucky bounce beat Eagles’ goalie, Kyle Nairn (Delta), to put the Wolfpack up to a quick 2-0 lead. Second-year forward, Marcos Da Silva (Burnaby), quickly responded with a perfect strike past the TRU keeper to help the Eagles get within reach, but it was short-lived when the Wolfpack responded again and closed off the half with a 2 goal lead (3-1). Entering the second-half, the scoreboard saw 1 goal to the Eagles off a penalty kick from second-year forward, Murtada AlMatrood (Burnaby), but it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap that had been created by the Wolfpack, who added 3 additional goals to their score, for a 6-2 result at the final whistle and a 4th place final finish for the Eagles. Marcos Da Silva was awarded the Player of the Game for the Eagles.