Cup play in soccer is known for its giant killers. Sooke Celtic, seeded 14th, is fashioning such a story this year in its upset-strewn foray through the Jackson Cup tournament.
The run is one of the most unlikely in the 109-year history of the Jackson Cup, the Vancouver Island Soccer League’s version of the FA Cup, as Sooke Celtic beat fellow Division 2-team and 13th-seed Nanaimo United 3-0 in the opening round, third-seed Bays United 3-0 in the second round and seventh-seed Division 1 Nanaimo United in the quarter-finals to advance to meet top-seed Vic West in a semifinal match-up tonight at 8 p.m. at the Log in Sooke.
Sooke Celtic is adding another chapter to the storied history of the Jackson Cup, which has been played for by the likes of Canadian World Cup players George Pakos with Athletics, Jamie Lowery with Vic West and Ian Bridge with Lakehill along with other national team players such as Bob Bolitho and Brian Robinson.
“We have a great group of guys that stick together on and off the pitch with great comraderie,” said Sooke Celtic head coach Sven Eckhardt.
Eckhardt grew up in football-powerhouse Germany but has taken seamlessly to the game, and change of name to soccer, in his adopted country. He began in the game in Canada when he came to Calgary in 2007 and has been on the Island since 2019. Eckhardt has lifted Sooke Celtic to not only a 3-0 record in the Jackson Cup and to the verge of the final, but also to a 10-4-2 record in league play and to second place in the VISL Division 2 and on the verge of promotion to Division 1 next season. Sooke Celtic was promoted from Division 3 to Division 2 two seasons ago.
The upstarts from Sooke aim to give the top seeds and defending Jackson Cup champions from Vic West, who are undefeated in the VISL Division 1 at 15-0-2 in league play and 2-0 in Cup play, all they can handle tonight in the Cup semifinal.
“Vic West is favoured for sure but I don’t see us as the underdog but more of a dark horse,” said Eckhardt.
“The equalizing key is we are at home at the Log on our grass field [Vic West plays on turf at Finlayson] and we have great supporters.”
Vic West has its own tale of a redemptive rise when it hoisted the Jackson Cup last season for the first time since 1989 to end a 34-year drought for the once proud club. It has been an painstaking climb back for a club that won six B.C. and four Canadian championships in the 1970s and 1980s only to fall to the depths in Division 4 and having to win three promotions since 2009 just to get back to Division 1.
The other Jackson Cup semifinal features second-seed Gorge FC against fifth-seed Comox Valley on Saturday at 6 p.m. on the G.P. Vanier Secondary turf field.
The semifinal winners will advance to the Jackson Cup championship game March 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
