It wasn鈥檛 the Cinderella story ending Okanagan FC were hoping for in this year鈥檚 Pacific Coast Soccer League playoffs.
OKFC were barely bested by the league鈥檚 top team in a 2-1 loss on July 27, ultimately ending their season.
The 麻豆精选 squad came into the playoffs as the fourth seed, tasked with a tough initial matchup against the hometown team Victoria Highlanders, who lost only one game at home all season and outscored opponents 40 to 13 all year.
OKFC held a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half, before Victoria netted two goals in two minutes in the second half.
Despite the loss, OKFC held their heads high.
鈥淐ouldn鈥檛 be more proud of the guys and their effort,鈥� said coach Andrew Stevenson.
鈥淰ictoria is a different beast on their home field, and we got so close to causing a big upset.
鈥滻t makes the result a bit more bitter to know we were that close, but we鈥檙e proud to finish fourth after giving Victoria a really good go.鈥�
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A mental lapse in concentration for only two minutes was enough for Victoria to snatch the lead away from OKFC in the opening minutes of the second half.
Okanagan FC pressed hard in the final minutes down only a goal, but were unable get another against the hometown team.
鈥淲hen you play the genuine top players on the top teams, two minutes is enough to seal a game. We collapsed for two minutes and they have the quality players that can capitalize on that,鈥� said Stevenson.
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Almost 30 players made an appearance for OKFC throughout the year due to injuries to the roster.
Balancing a large group of players and their injuries all the while finishing fourth in the league was a challenge for the first-year coach.
鈥淚f you had told me in my first season I鈥檇 be dealing with an injury list of 16 to 18 players, I鈥檇 have laughed at you,鈥� Stevenson said.
鈥淏ut how adaptive we were in bringing guys in and out was really impressive. If we didn鈥檛 have a deep group that really believed in what we were about, we wouldn鈥檛 have done as well as we did.
鈥淎ll our players really played well this year.鈥�
Injuries aside, the 麻豆精选 team advanced to the playoffs in their first year in the PCSL.
Now, the program will take a few weeks of off-time before prepping for next season and taking the time to appreciate the team and the fans that embraced the return of high-level soccer in 麻豆精选.
鈥淚 want to thank everybody that came out and adopted Okanagan FC as their home team this season, the players loved it,鈥� said Stevenson.
鈥淥ur challenge next year will be to develop our fan culture and experience, we want to make the fans as much a part of the team as our players.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited for what 2020 will bring and next year, we won鈥檛 be as happy with a fourth place finish.鈥�
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