Pinnacles take Peach City gold
Penticton Pinnacles Reed Noble-Hearle braces for the impact of the ball as he battles Surrey Lions, Andy Mander (8) for control during gold medal action at the Penticton Peach City Soccer Classic boys under 16 tournament. The hosts dropped a 2-0 decision in the SOYSA event that attracted over 100 teams.
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Updated: August 19, 2009 10:50 AM
Two Penticton soccer squads showed their determination coming up with gold medals in the biggest soccer tournament in the city.
The U13 Penticton Pinnacles captured top spot in the Peach City Classic tournament held over the weekend defeating a team from Richmond 2-1 and the U16 Girls Pinnacles won the A division. The boys Pinnacles, who are a U13 team that played up a division for the tournament, had suffered a painful 6-1 loss the day before at the hands of the Richmond squad.
“They are just a little bit older, bigger and faster,” said assistant coach Manuel Borba of the Pinnacles first stand against the Richmond team. “We made some adjustments coming into the final against them to cover the faster players and the boys weren’t as intimidated. They came in with the heart of champions and it showed.”
The Pinnacles took the early lead with a penalty shot goal from Brett Depner but Richmond bounced back and within five minutes had knotted the game. With two minutes remaining, James Fraser sealed the victory for the Pinnacles and the U14 championship title.
“We just made the right adjustments and had a great game, upsetting them for the win,” said Borba.
The U16 girls shutout their opponents, Surrey United, 1-0 to win the A division. Crystal Gutsell was the lone player to find the back of the net.
The growth of the Peach City Classic has left the soccer club, looking into expanding this tournament and possibly adding a few more in Fall and over Spring Break.
“We have so many teams that we will be looking to keep expanding into B and C competitions and possibly using fields in Oliver and Osoyoos,” said Borba. “This is quite a good fundraiser for us and it all goes back into the coaching development program.”
Borba said the tournament wouldn’t have been such a success without all the soccer club volunteers and the help of the City of Penticton Parks and Recreation department.
“We had a major rainstorm Friday night and fields held up great thanks to the support from the city staff. They put sand down on the fields and by Saturday they were in great shape.”
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