The Upper Island Storm had to be resilient on Saturday, carrying the play and trimming Juan de Fuca 1-0 in Vancouver Island Premier League U15 Girls soccer action at QB Rec Fields.
The two high performance teams played to a scoreless first half, and industrious centre-mid Amelia Kazanowski notched what would prove to be the winner 10 minutes into the second when she sliced through two defenders at midfield, broke in alone and tucked it in over a charging keeper.
“It was a nice goal. She’s a good player,” Storm coach Larry Stefanek said of his captain.
Also earning props for her play was right middy Grace Gates.
The win lifts the Storm to 5-6-3 and into second place in the five-team high performance league, while last place JDF is still looking for their first win of the season.
The Storm, made up of girls from Nanaimo and Oceanside, were coming off a hard-fought 1-0 loss to the league-leading 7-5-1 Saanich Fusion in Victoria the week before.
“Very good second half for us,” said Stefanek, adding “we controlled the game. We had some good chances, we just couldn’t finish in the first half.”
The Storm have two league games remaining. Cup play gets underway Feb. 23-24 — seedings are based on the regular season standings. The winner of the single knockout tourney advances to the Coastal Cup and later on to the provincial championships.
GAME ON
The Storm are back home Sunday to take on the Upper Island Riptide who are sitting two points behind in third.
“It’s a big game.”
IN OTHER ACTION
The Mid-Island Highlanders, which pencil in two locals, beat their south-Island counterpart Victoria Highlanders 2-1 last week to grab top spot in their 8-team VISL U21 league.