By David F. Rooney
With 36 teams, the annual Big Bear Soccer Tournament was, organizers said, an excellent event marred — in the eyes of local fans of the Beautiful Game — by the fact that the hometown heroes lost the Men’s Final match by a score of just 1-0 to Williams Lake.
“Williams Lake was a very powerful team,” said Revelstoke Football Club spokesman Sergio Spataro after the heartbreaker on Sunday, June 21. “If they played in our league they’d easily be one of the top teams.”
It was a tough loss for the club, which had dominated their opponents throughout the tournament. They beat the Revelstoke Weekend Warriors 8-0 on Friday, June 19, and the Golden Selects 9-3 on Saturday. They won their semi-final match against Vicvanelson 1-0 just an hour before the final.
Williams Lake was certainly powerful. They defeated the Canmore team, which had twice won the tournament in past years, 2-0, before advancing to the final. Their offensive line was extremely fast and skillful and their defence was just as good as Revelstoke’s. It took extremely hard work by Revelstoke’s defence to limit the score.
The Other Team, the local women’s team, also had an excellent weekend. In one memorable game they trounced Calgary’s Elite United 9-0 but, unfortunately, they didn’t advance to the final. That was played between the Nelson United and the Little Tex Outlaws from Vernon. Nelson won that match 2-0.
