Gorge FC hopes to reprise old times in the Province Cup, when it won four B.C. men’s senior soccer championships between 2001 and 2010.
It might just have the team to do it as its 2018 revival tour continues with a Province Cup Round of 16 matchup Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hampton Park against Club Inter from the Lower Mainland. But it’s a tough opening draw against the defending provincial champions. No team from the Island or Fraser Valley has lifted the Province Cup since Gorge in 2010 as Vancouver Metro teams have dominated the championship the past seven years.
Gorge FC this month won its first Vancouver Island Soccer League Jackson Cup title since its run of six consecutive Cup championships ended in 2010. Gorge will be looking for more heroics from Jackson Cup championship game man-of-the-match Dylan Abbott.
“It’s taken a number of years to rebuild but it’s starting to happen,” said Gorge FC head coach Danny Van Gylswyk, who has been with the Gorge organization for 50 years as a player, manager and coach, and who this year won the Vancouver Island Soccer League President’s Award.
The Province Cup Sweet 16 features an Island derby today with 2018 Jackson Cup-finalist Lakehill, led by VISL MVP and scoring champion Ryan Andre, away to 2017 Jackson Cup-champion Nanaimo United at 5 p.m. at Merle Logan. It’s sort of a home fixture for Lakehill standout Andre, who hails from Nanaimo.
Cowichan FC, the dominant Island team of the last decade but still lacking a Province Cup title, is host to West Vancouver today at 1 p.m. at Sherman Road.
A rejuvenated and dangerous Vic West, the Province Cup championship side six times from 1976 to 1984, looks to recapture past glories by taking its act on the road in the Sweet 16 and is away to the BCT Rover Tigers on the Lower Mainland.
The Province Cup quarter-finals are April 27-29, semifinalis May 4-6 and the final May 13 at Swangard Stadium.
The Province Cup women’s tournament also begins this weekend with the quarter-finals as Lower Island Price Cup-champion Lakehill takes on Coquitlam Metro, the Victoria Athletics play Richmond FC, and Nanaimo United is against Surrey United.
