The BC men’s soccer team kicked off their 2017 Canada Summer Games tournament Aug. 7 settling for a 1-1 draw with Saskatchewan. After holding the lead for most of the second half, a defensive breakdown cost B.C. the win. They will look to bounce back with a strong showing in their final game of preliminary round play Wednesday.
Throughout the first 40 minutes of play both teams traded chances, but B.C. came closest when they hit the bar off of a flying header in the 18th minute. B.C. pressed hard into added time, but were unable to get a quality shot through a stout Saskatchewan back line.
B.C. came out hard in the second half and were rewarded in the 51st minute when Jora Saran (Surrey) struck a ball into the bottom corner of Saskatchewan’s net. Less than a minute after, Mitch Whittla (Victoria) made a stunning save off the Saskatchewan attack to keep B.C. ahead. However, after getting knocked down to 10 men when Aaron Mulama (Abbotsford) suffered an injury at the 70-minute mark, a poor effort back to the keeper gave Saskatchewan a wide open net to tap in the equalizer. B.C. was unable to re-take the lead in the dying minutes ending the match knotted at one goal apiece.
The preliminary round continues Wednesday as BC takes on a tough squad from Nova Scotia at 4:30pm (CDT) on the pitch at Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex.
Bjorn Borren, a Pinnacles FC grad, is playing for B.C. Borren has also played for Thompson Okanagan FC, who he helped win a B.C. Soccer Premier League championship in 2016.
Another Penticton athlete is competing Wednesday. Acacia Benn of the KISU swim club is in heat 4 of the 400 metre freestyle. On Aug. 8, Benn posted the third fasted time in the 400-m medley in five minutes, 10.32 seconds, but did not qualify for finals.