The North Enderby Timber will go for their 10th Gibson Cup title Saturday night at MacDonald Park.
NET ended the surprising sixth-place Monashee FC Surveyors’ season with a 4-1 victory Wednesday night in the North Okanagan Soccer League semifinal.
First-place Courvas of Salmon Arm shaded visiting Turn-Key Controls 2-1 of Vernon in the other semi. The Gibson Cup final kickoff will be 6 p.m.
Striker Brent Poulsen opened the scoring in the 25th minute after collecting a through ball from Jesse Knight, outrunning the defence and beating Monashee keeper James Inglis low.
After the goal, Monashee (4-8-2) turned up the heat creating several good chances before the half but couldn’t beat Timber keeper Ean Ross.
Ross made the Kidston & Co. save of the game with five minutes remaining in the first half with a huge diving effort to deny Nathan Whitling a sure goal.
The Surveyors had to mix things up in the second half when Inglis left the game with a dislocated shoulder.
The Timber opened up their attack early in the second half. The Monashee replacement keeper, Ryan Sharp, came charging out and cleared the ball to half but NET midfielder Evan Frederick controlled the ball and fired home a left-footed volley from the half circle over top of everyone.
Minutes later, NET’s Tyler Loose picked up the ball and walked around three defenders as if they were mannequins and buried it side netting.
NET controlled the play for most of the second half and Poulsen added some insurance in the 75th minute, beating a defender and sliding it under the keeper.
At 80 minutes, Alberto Lopez of Monashee took down a bouncing ball, flicked it over a defender, danced around Ross and buried a rainbow ball over his head and walked it into the net. The build up came from easy balls around the horn.
Second-place NET (9-4-1) welcomed back roadrunner Dexter James, who had a solid game on the outside and scoring a controversial goal that was called back for an offside.
Monashee will battle Turn-Key for third place Saturday, 4 p.m., at MacDonald Park.
In Salmon Arm, Turn-Key scored in the opening 10 seconds when Courvas passed the opening kickoff back and Evan moore and Preston Pucker applied pressure with Moore swiping the ball and feeding Tucker inside the 18. Tucker tucked it past the keeper.
The sizzling start lasted for a while with Turn-Key charging hard for more offence. Courvas then stepped up on a counter attack and delivered some clever passes to earn a breakaway and score the equalizer.
Within 10 minutes, Courvas worked the same play and converted the winner.
Turn-Key held possession until the half with multiple corners, one by Andrew Pool almost curving top shelf. Moore had a rebound chance, but a defender on the post recorded a dazzling stop.
Play went back and forth in the second half with chances on both sides. Turn-Key pushed to level the score in the final 10 minutes, but Courvas locked things down in the danger zone.
The Timber brushed back Turn-Key 3-1 in the 2013 Gibson Cup final after Turn-Key shocked Courvas, who had a 17-1 record, in the semis. Courvas topped the table in the regular season at 12-1-1.
The Gibson Cup is named after longtime youth and men’s official Ian Gibson, who was inducted into the Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame last fall.
Nice rolls hatty for Sistas
The Okanagan Season Sistas shelled Rosters 5-2 in North Okanagan Women’s Soccer Association Masters division play Tuesday night at Marshall Field #2.
The Rosters (1-17-1) finally started a game with a full compliment of players and it showed as they were tic-tac-toeing passes all over the field.
Jen Funk scored her first goal of the season and Rene Moore added another for Rosters.
Genevieve Nice pulled the hat trick and Diane Neudorf sniped a pair for the Sistas (6-10-2).
Dr. Lee dispenses Controllers
Dr. Lee/Squires Four Pub eclipsed the Controllers 8-1 at MacDonald Park.
Irene Arrotta and Jill Rintoul opened the scoring for the 18-0-1 floss squad.
Jacquie Hansen buried a pair from Deanna Baker and Arrotta. Dana Reid set up Baker on a brilliant through ball to make it 5-0.
The Controllers added one late, but dropped to 9-8-2.
In Division 1 play, the Little Tex Outlaws shut down the North Enderby Timber Celtics 3-0 at Marshall Field #2.
NET keeper Charmaine Biagoni recorded a huge save on a penalty kick.
The Outlaws improved to 2-9-4, while the Timber dipped to 3-8-5.
VQA forfeit to Merlot
The Vernon Square Liquor Store VQA and the Shuswap Merlot played a friendly in Masters division play after VQA forfeited Tuesday night in Salmon Arm.
VQA (6-10-2) forfeited due to player shortages.
Sue Barss of the Merlot (8-9-2) found Cheryl Roddis on a grande cross from the right side for the first goal.
Sheila Westwell banged in her first career goal with a left-footed bomb and Jane Higgins showed off some nice touch as she scored the Merlot’s third goal on a lengthy lob.
VQA (6-10-2) forfeited due to player shortages.
Sue Barss of the Merlot (8-9-2) found Cheryl Roddis on a grand cross from the right side for the first goal.
Sheila Westwell banged in her first career goal with a left-footed bomb and Jane Higgins showed off some nice touch as she scored the Merlot’s third goal on a lengthy lob.
Otto operates on Sistas
Cassandra Otto recorded a hatty as the Seasons Custom Homes Sistas iced the Green Rockets 6-3 in Division 2 play Sunday night at MacDonald Park.
Kim Sylvester, Deanna Baker and Nicole Williams also scored for the Sistas (12-1-1) in the make-up match. The Green Rockets slipped to 7-7.
