Soccer takes important win over Team Nova Scotia

Team British Columbia vs. Team Nova Scotia
Final Score: 3-1 BC

The first rainy day of the 2017 Canada Summer Games offered the BC men’s soccer team a chance to avenge their female counterparts with a 3-1 victory over Nova Scotia. The women’s team was knocked out of their tournament in a heartbreaking quarterfinals loss to the Maritimers last week, so the boys had extra motivation on the evening. With the win, BC secures first place in their pool and will play either Alberta or Ontario in the knockout round.

The match could not have started worse for BC however, as Nova Scotia took the lead on a lovely set piece in the fifth minute deflecting a header past starting goalkeeper Carl Vandekraats (North Vancouver). Things nearly went from bad to worse ten minutes later when captain Sam McDonald (Kelowna) rang the ball off his own goalpost trying to clear a ball from the back line. This must have woken up BC though as they began to take control of the match. At the 28-minute mark, Jora Saran (Surrey) danced his way through the Nova Scotia defenders then fed the ball across the box to Andrew Peat (Port Coquitlam) who blasted his first goal of the tournament off the post and in.

Coming out in the second half, BC continued to pour on the pressure and were rewarded in the 57th when Devin O’Hea (North Vancouver) outmuscled the defense and slid the ball into the back of the net after receiving a beautiful long ball from Anthony Vega (New Westminster). Nova Scotia fought hard for the equalizer late forcing the play down low, but BC was able to put the score out of reach when Peat hammered home his second of the night from the penalty mark.

“It was a much needed goal as it deflated them as a team and their hopes.” said Peat about the third BC marker, “When you take those you gotta keep confident, know where you’re going and stick with it.”

When asked how important it was to have a good result after a tough decision earlier in the week against Saskatchewan, Peat claimed, “I think it was mandatory. We had a hiccup Monday, we needed it to build up confidence.”

BC finishes the preliminary round with four points, one up on second place Nova Scotia, and will begin the next stage of the tournament with quarterfinals Thursday night at 7:30pm.

Stats
Goals
• Andrew Peat, #7 (28’)
• Devin O’Hea, #17 (57’)
• Andrew Peat, #7 (77’)

Cautions
• Burhan Waisy, #15 (80’)

Next Up:
Team BC vs. TBD
Thursday, August 10 @ 7:30pm (CDT)