Cowichan LMG Pringle is still on a roll on the road in Div. 1 of the Island Soccer League, beating Castaways 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Victoria’s Royal Athletic Park(RAP).
The RAP field, typically, wasn’t in the best playing shape for high-level soccer, but Cowichan did the grinding work necessary to prevail.
“The pace of play was a bit slow because of the field conditions,’’ conceded Cowichan coach Glen Martin.
Cowichan is now 11-1 atop the standings, with a 2-1 mark on the road after opening with nine straight wins at home.
Young Connor Crichton got the scoring started in the seventh minute with his second goal of the season. Castaways equalized about five minutes later on what Martin termed a “bad goal.’’
Riley Taiji put Cowichan back in front late in the half on a long shot that eluded the Castaways’ goalkeeper.
Martin put in Chris Arnett, Bram Taylor and Dan Cato to start the second half.
“Three strong subs and we came at them really hard,’’ said Martin.
Cowichan scored another lucky goal when Ryan Andre planted a shot into the top corner over the goalie’s head.
“Overall, we played decent for the field conditions,’’ said Martin. “We had a lot of chances that second half.’’
Cato looked good, according to Martin, in his first game with the team.
Joel Wilson returned to the Cowichan net after sitting out the previous game against Gorge with an injury.
Cowichan is at Sooke Friday.
In Div. 2, Cowichan United lost 2-0 to the Gordon Head Blazers and fell to 5-3-2 on the season, but remained in third place.
