Eight's not enough for Cowichan
Cowichan LMG Pringle is now 8-0 atop Div. 1 of the Vancouver Island Soccer League heading into a huge battle with Saanich Fusion, another undefeated team at 6-0.
The clash of the titans will likely take place Saturday night at the Ladysmith Turf. Cowichan, as the host team, must give 96 hours of any game change and, with the possibility of Sherman Road Park's Bill Keserich Field being closed again for Friday's regularly-scheduled time slot, coach Glen Martin didn't want to take any chances that the game would be scrapped until a later date.
His team is on a roll now and he wants to get the game in no matter what the weather's like.
Cowichan plays its other main challenger, Bays United Liquor Plus, the following week in its first road game of the season.
"If we can get to 10-0, they'll have trouble catching us,'' said Martin of Cowichan's rivals.
Saanich is the last team standing in the way of a perfect sweep through the first half of the season.
"This will be a challenge,'' said Martin. "Hopefully, we'll lick our wounds this week.''
After being injury-free all season, Cowichan suddenly ran into a string of them with various ailments to captain Jesse Winter, Kevan Brown, George Horne and Riley Taiji.
"There's four injuries, for sure — some of them before the (Prospect Lake) game even started,'' said Martin.
Cowichan's eighth straight win was a cakewalk Friday at the Ladysmith Turf, 6-0 over Prospect Lake.
With all the changes and injuries, it was a great team effort.
Connor Crichton, one of the team's burgeoning young players, was on the field for the entire 90 minutes.
"He got a rookie start and made the best of it,'' said Martin.
Crichton even got into the scoring with his first of the season. Super sub turned more regular player Kevin Brown and Ryan Andre each added a pair, with Tyler Hughes scoring on a 37-yard rocket.
Hughes was smashing the ball around and the Prospect Lake goalkeeper was fortunate to stop another of his howitzers.
Cowichan led 2-0 at the half on goals by Andre and Jones at 18 and 22 minutes, respectively.
Four more goals after the break put the game away, with Hughes connecting at 55 minutes, Andre at 64 minutes, Jones at 67 minutes and Crichton in the 84th minute.
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