On Saturday, the Okanagan Challenge took care of business. On Sunday afternoon, they took the title as Pacific Coast Soccer League playoff champions.
On the strength of an own goal, produced by tournament MVP Tyler Murphy, the top-seeded Challenge defeated the third-seeded Khalsa Sporting Club of Coquitlam 3-2 in the men‘s premier division final at the Apple Bowl.
“It was a lucky goal, but we‘ll take it,” said Murphy, 20. “I was just going down the left side, went by a defender then crossed in and it banked off another defender and into the net.”
Murphy added one of his own and San Hwang also scored for the Challenge, while Milad Rahmati and Niko Marcina replied for Khalsa. Okanagan goalkeeper J.D. Blakely made several game-saving stops down the stretch to preserve the victory. But afterwards, much of the talk was about the deciding goal.
“When you think of the winning goal, you think it‘s going to be something really, really brilliant . . . somebody doing a bicycle kick or a diving header,” said Challenge head coach Clint Schneider.
“But we‘ll take it. It was all guts from Tyler Murphy today, he deserves the MVP.”
Ten years from now, Murphy can describe the winner however he sees fit, but, for the time being, he‘s fine with the adjectives ’fluky,‘ ’greasy,‘ even ’garbage.‘
That goal was all the Challenge needed as Blakely made their third lead of the game stand up. A back and forth affair, Hwang opened the scoring before Rahmati evened it 1-1. Murphy put the Challenge ahead 2-1 just before halftime, bulging the twine during injury time. Khalsa wasn‘t done, though, as Marcina leveled the score 2-2 about 15 minutes into the second half, blasting a rebound into an open goal.
That set the stage for Murphy‘s heroics, a mere three minutes later. The last 27 minutes saw Khalsa provide steady pressure as the visitors pushed for another equalizer to no avail.
Blakely held the fort, despite a couple close calls as the clock counted down.
“My defence, all 10 players in front of me, played unreal,” Blakely said. “Murphy, especially, was unreal today. He played his guts out, and that goal was deserved even though it counts as an own goal.
“We‘ll give it to him . . . a winner‘s a winner.”
Murphy was every bit as complimentary of his ‘keeper‘s efforts in keeping Khalsa at bay.
“J.D. made some huge saves, and he‘s done that all year, really,” Murphy said. “He‘s come up big for us, and he did that again today.”
When the final whistle blew, Okanagan hoisted its first Challenge Cup since 1997, the last time the tournament was hosted in Kelowna. This time around, it was twice as nice, as the Challenge were crowned regular-season champs the previous weekend. Okanagan also won the regular-season titles in 1997 and 1998.
Repeating those feats was rewarding for Murphy, a local product from Winfield.
“I remember being a big fan and I still have memorabilia from back in the ‘90s,” Murphy said. “I was a huge fan back when I was a kid, and to be able to play for them and win a championship with them is just unreal.”
Making it more special is the fact that the Challenge are celebrating their 20th anniversary and are coming off some trying seasons at the lower end of PCSL standings.
“This season has been awesome, a big turnaround from the last few years,” said Murphy, who is in his fifth campaign with the Challenge. “We worked hard all season. It was a young team, but we were coached well and led well, and I think it showed in the final.”
It was Schneider‘s first season at the helm, and he sensed that championship potential from Day 1. Watching it come to fruition made it all worthwhile.
“It‘s a great group of guys, character above any other teams I‘ve been around,” Schneider said. “I knew that was going to be an important piece because they would buy into things. They did, and sometimes we didn‘t play the prettiest soccer, but we always played together and it paid off.”
In other championship action, the Okanagan Whitecaps edged Coquitlam Metro Ford 3-2 in the men‘s reserve division final. Enzo Paal scored the winner, a last-minute goal off a corner kick.
On the women‘s front, the Penticton Pinnacles captured the reserve title with a 5-1 win over the Fraser Valley Action, while the Vancouver Whitecaps Prospects beat Fraser Valley 4-2 to take the premier division. Top of Page
