Despite finishing fourth in the regular season, the Penticton Structurlam Pinnacles insist their Pacific Coast Soccer League Reserve Women‘s Division playoff championship victory was not a huge surprise.
The Pinnacles won their second playoff crown in three years on the weekend, beating third-place Fraser Valley Action 5-1 in the title game Sunday at Kelowna‘s Parkinson Field.
Penticton got to the final in one of the most thrilling games at any level of the PCSL this season, as they outgunned regular season champs Kamloops Heat 6-5 in a shootout in the semifinal.
Pinnacles head coach Ray Hintz said he didn‘t believe there was much to choose from among the four playoff teams.
“We started off 5-1-1 and we knew we had a good team,” said Hintz. “We had a few injuries and struggled a bit in the second half of the season, but we felt like we had a good chance if we got into the playoffs fielding a healthy lineup.”
Hintz said it was a complete team effort that enabled the Pinnacles to win the title, as they overcame a Kamloops team that lost just one game all season.
He said the defensive line of Diane Harrison, Holly Bidlake, Dru Yates, Jessica Brikker, Erin Finlay and Mila Miller was a tower of strength throughout the weekend.
“Kelsey Rufiange and Haley Burns were just sensational in the midfield, our forwards did a nice job finishing off chances and Willow (Finlay) made some big saves when we needed them most,” said Hintz.
Hintz said Miller was the “trump card” that helped put Penticton over the top. Miller missed almost the entire season with a torn knee ligament, but returned to play an influential role for the Pinnacles in Kelowna.
In the wild semifinal win over Kamloops, the Pinnacles jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to fall behind 4-3 late in the second half.
“We had an easy chance to go up 4-0,” said Hintz. “When we missed it and they came down and scored their first goal, we kind of panicked a bit.”
Brikker tied the game for Penticton with less than a minute to go in regulation time with a 25-yard blast.
“We gambled at the end, pushed players up and went with only two fullbacks,” said Hintz. “We were yelling at (Brikker) to shoot because we knew there wasn‘t much time left.”
The Pinnacles fell behind 5-4 just five minutes into the first of two 15-minute overtime periods. But Dru Yates tied the game with a long shot just before the first extra period ended.
“We had some great, great chances to win it in the second overtime,” said Hintz.
The Pinnacles controlled the shootout from the get-go, scoring on their first three chances and limiting Kamloops to one goal. Burns got the fourth goal to clinch the win and a berth in the final.
Jana Yates with two and Nicolle Fraser had the other regulation goals for Penticton.
In the final, the Pinnacles came out flying and led 2-0 at the break. Fraser Valley pulled one back off a free kick early in the second half, but Casey Conway – later named the MVP in the final - scored a natural hat trick to blow the game wide open.
“We had a lot of extra bodies and it really helped us in the second half,” said Hintz. “(Fraser Valley) ran out of steam a little bit.”
Hintz said the Pinnacles will be losing a handful of players, but the vast majority expressed interest in returning next season.
“We‘ve got some really good local talent moving up from youth (soccer) so we‘re looking pretty strong for the next couple of seasons at least,” said Hintz.
The league offered the Pinnacles the opportunity to move up to the senior level, but Hintz said the plan is to remain in the Reserve Division for at least the 2010 season.
The Pinnacles got some more good news when Structurlam agreed to sponsor the team again for the 2010 season. Structurlam has sponsored the team for the three seasons it has played in the PCSL.
