The final four of the Howe Sound Men's Soccer League (HSMSL) has been set after the Dyer Straits and Khlasa won their respective playoff games on Sunday (March 27).
The Straits had their traditional slow start but gathered momentum as the game continued to win 4-1, eliminating Lilwat7uhl from the playoffs.
"As usual, we started slow but we had a really good second half," said Straits head coach Dave Harrison. "Our midfielders began to add more pressure in the second half and it really helped us win the game."
The Straits came out looking shaky, allowing several opportunities, and Lilwat7uhl got on the board early when Shaka Baker opened the scoring. The Straits began to get their legs as the game continued, hitting the crossbar with one shot, and then Austin Sweeney tied the game 25 minutes into the first half. Terry Patterson added a late goal after a nice set-up from Istvan Richter to give the Straits a 2-1 lead heading into the second half.
Lilwat7uhl was the victim of a critical error early in the half, when a Lil'wat defender accidentally directed a Straits shot into his own goal. Richter was given credit for the goal, as he was the last Straits player to touch the ball. The own goal proved to be the backbreaker for Lil'wat as they made a late push, including one glorious chance that connected with the crossbar, but ultimately came up short. Richter scored again late, deking out the Lil'wat goalie, who was out of position.
The Straits will move on to the next round to take on Galileo, who posted the HSMSL's best regular-season record. Galileo and the Straits tangled on March 20, with Galileo winning 4-1, but Harrison seemed confident in his bunch.
"We were missing 10 guys in our last game against them," he said of the March 20 match. "We always have close games with Galileo and we're hoping to give them a good game next week."
The other playoff game saw Khalsa easily defeat Zephyr 9-1. Rory Fulber and Jag Sangha both had hat tricks for Khlasa, while Richard Collins added a pair. After scoring two early goals, Collins decided to move from forward to goalie, where he only allowed one goal in relief duty. Chris Johnstone scored the other goal for Khalsa. Replying for Zephyr was James Whalen.
Khalsa will take on the Ellis Moving Eagles this weekend in a game that features two evenly matched teams. Both teams only lost three times during the regular season but the Eagles ended up with two more points thanks to posting one more victory than Khalsa.
The two teams haven't met since Nov. 14, when Khalsa walked away with a 4-2 victory. They also met on Oct. 3 with Khalsa shutting the Eagles out 3-0.
The league will resume action on Sunday (April 3) with all four teams hitting the field at Brennan Park at 10 a.m. The HSMSL finals and the third-place game will take place at Brennan Park on April 9.
For more information and full statistics, visit the Scoreboard section of The Chief.
