A 15-minute lapse for the Penticton Pinnacles under-21 men’s team resulted in a 2-1 loss to the Abbotsford Mariners.
Pinnacles keeper Travis Froehlich said his teammates battled hard, but the Mariners just battled a little harder to secure the victory in the Reserve Division of the Pacific Coast Soccer League on Sunday.
“We know Abbotsford is the top team in the league,” said Froehlich. “We prepared well this week. Just came up short against a good squad.”
Injuries to veteran players resulted in younger players for the Pinnacles getting more time. Pinnacles captain Wyatt Seddon Johnstone said they performed well.
“We weren’t overplayed by them, even at the end,” he said. “I think that’s a positive to take from it.”
Johnston said it was a tough loss in one of the most important regular season games. He wanted to see them take advantage of an opportunity as Abbotsford had played in Kelowna the day before.
“We could have finished a little bit better,” said Johnstone, who is among the team leaders with three goals. “Had chances to win in the first half. Bad time to take a goal at the end of the first half.”
Pinnacles coach Paulo Araujo said his team had a good start until the late goal, which he believes impacted his team mentally.
“Overall we battled, we played a lot of our younger guys today because we still have a lot of injuries,” he said.”Obviously a loss always hurts at home. I think there were some good moments because it showed that our young guys can play.”
James Fraser scored early in the first half of the Pinnacles.
Mariners coach Ian Knight wasn’t pleased with the start his team had.
“Although we played quite well, we surrendered a lot of possession,” said Knight. “Our work rate wasn’t where it should have been. We addressed that in the half. The tempo of the game raised from our perspective and we kind of dominated the game from that point.”
Scoring for the Mariners, now 5-1-1, were Kree Byrne and Connor O’Neill.
After facing the Pinnacles in Abbotsford on May 25 and winning 3-0, Knight said he expected a tough game in Penticton.
“We knew what to expect and they didn’t disappoint,” said Knight. “They keep good possession and they work hard.”
The Pinnacles, 3-2-4 at of June 24, host Kelowna United June 30 at Kings Park at 2 p.m.
Pinnacles under-21 girls
The team faced Chilliwack FC on the road and pounded them 6-0 win on the strength of a hat trick by Anika Nystrom, and single goals by Crystal Schuder, Brianne Hrynyk and Mila Miller. Against the Fraser Valley Action Sunday, Nystrom struck twice, while Melanie Girard and Miller scored once for a 4-0 win.
“It was an outstanding job by everybody,” said Pinnacles coach Ray Hintz.
The Pinnacles face a tough game against West Vancouver FC on the road June 30 then return home to host Kelowna United on July 3. With the wins, the Pinnacles improve to 5-3-1.
