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The experience of Mission Cleaners FC — playing in its 13th straight final — overcame the youth and momentum of the previously undefeated Okanagan FC to eke out a 3-1 victory on Sunday and defend its Kelowna Men’s Soccer League Division 1 playoff title.
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First-half goals by Michael De Melo and Christian Artavia proved the difference for Mission, second-place finishers to OFC (16-0-2) in the regular season with an 11-4-3 record.
Veteran Thomas Simkins added a third Cleaners goal in the 70th minute while Lucas Hicklin was the lone goalscorer for Okanagan, who had defeated Mission 3-2 and 2-1 in regular-season play.
“It sounds like a broken record, but it seems to always come down to the experience and depth of our team,” said Matt Arruda of the Mission Cleaners. “While we are starting to add some younger players for pace and energy, the more seasoned players and their experience really come through in the big games.
While Arruda conceded that the opposition was hurt by not having a full squad available for the final (university commitments), OFC was still quicker and fitter, but his team played “very well” holding them at bay.
“I thought we carried much of the play in those games in the regular season and should have had a better result,” noted Arruda. “And other than a couple of opportunities at the end of the game when Okanagan applied tremendous pressure, we didn’t give up a ton of opportunities in the final.”
And when OFC did break through, Cleaners’ always-reliable goalkeeper, Spencer Brown, was there to make outstanding saves and earn man-of-the-match status.
De Melo opened the scoring in the 15th minute, finding the net from the right side with a sharp-angled shot to the back left post.
The lead was short-lived as Hicklin got behind the Mission Cleaners’ back line on the right side two minutes later; dribbled into the right edge of the penalty area and beat Brown to the far post to make it 1-1.
An individual effort by Artavia put the Cleaners up for good about 30 minutes into the first half. Latching onto the ball on the OFC backline, he dribbled around keeper Carson Murray, and with a defender on his tail, slotted the ball smoothly into the empty goal.
Holding on to a tenuous one-goal lead against a persistent Okanagan attack, Mission caught a break when a shot by Tyler Ferreira was under-hit and landed perfectly on Simkins head. He re-directed the ball into the open goal, catching Murray going the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, Mission Cleaners and Okanagan FC will meet again on Sunday at Mission 14 in the Royal Cup final beginning at 1 p.m. Mission will be going for its sixth straight Cup title.
Division 2
Unable to win against SK Form and Finish in three tries during the regular season, Titan Industrial Celtic finally broke through on Sunday to defeat KMSL Division 2 regular-season champs and claim their first playoff title at Mission Sportsfields.
Tristain Moench’s free-kick goal from 30 yards out with 15 minutes remaining in the game stood up as the winner in Titan’s 3-2 victory over F and F (14-3-4), who had won two games and tied one against the third-place Celtic (10-6-5) in the regular season.
Jeremy Decock opened the scoring for Titan just three minutes into the game off a corner kick from Nathan Samaddar while Nic Moretto staked the Celtic to a 2-0 lead 25 minutes in on a long free kick.
While Ago Kimpian narrowed the margin with a Form and Finish goal 10 minutes before the half and Markus Roth added a goal for SK with seven minutes remaining in the game, the Moench marker proved the difference.
It was the second straight division-final appearance for Titan, and the loss last season was a motivator for the Celtic.
“As a whole, we all worked harder (than we did last year),” said Titan’s Alex Vicaretti. “It was truly a great team effort that included fantastic saves by Nik (goalie Terava) late in the match.”
Vicaretti said the Celtic also played a more physical game.
“We were definitely more physical that we had been in the regular season, and winning a lot of one-on-one battles was a key.”
Division 1 Women
Royal Star completed an undefeated Kelowna Women’s Soccer League Division 1 season with a 3-1 win over Gables Diablos on Sunday, but they had to go into extra time to do it.
Tied 1-1 on goals by Tess Perry (Diablos) and Jessica Briker (Royal Star) after 90 minutes, the playoff championship match was decided in extra time as Vanessa Zilkie and Gurbir Gill scored for Royal Star.
The win capped a season in which Royal Star posted a 14-0-2 record and finished 17 points ahead of Diablos (8-5-3) in the regular schedule.
Royal Star outscored Diablos 21-9 in their four regular-season meetings that included three wins, although the two teams did play to a 2-2 draw in their last meeting on Aug. 8.
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