Morning Star Staff
The Okanagan Spring Brewery Camels rarely lose more than four or five games a season.
So looking at a five-game misery streak was reason for motivation as the Humpbacks shut out Mind Smart United 3-0 in Capri Insurance Men’s 45+ Soccer League play Monday night at Marshall Field #1.
“Our back line was outstanding, anchored by Ian Butler,” said stand-in keeper Ron Krause. “I only had one shot.”
Ageless Dave Dawson registered the winner at 12 minutes on a tap-in after some sweet touches by Rick Raber, Marty Steele and Johnny Orton.
Steele added insurance in the 70th minute on a feed by Orton, while Steve Milne converted at 85 minutes, assisted by Orton. The Camels went to 4-5-1, while Mind Smart slipped to 3-6-1.
Turn-Key Controls Ogopogos snapped a three-game losing skid by brushing back Pushor Mitchell Rented Mules 5-1 at Parkinson #9 Field.
Mark Wasylyk opened the scoring and finished with a hat trick, giving him 10 goals on the season. Ian Bos and Ruben Cervantes had the additonal goals.
Central fullback Steve Fitzpatrick stepped up to play net for injured Ted Lurkin and made some magical stops. Fitzpatrick attended the Ray Clemence school of goalkeeping in kindergarten in the U.K.
The Ogopogos improved to 3-3-6, while the Mules fell to 0-6-4.
Soccer United of Kelowna bounced Bosman Accounting 6-0 at Parkinson #16.
United went up 4-0 at half-time on goals from Steve Segec, Walter Morel, Andy Macdonnell, and Chiang Lee.
Lee and Macdonnell each added their second snipes in the second half. Morel had a chance to join the club, hitting a post, and missing the net on what should have been a sure goal from three yards out.
Aside from being sharp on some corner kicks, United keeper Chris Turbitt didn’t have too much action to record a clean sheet due to the solid defending from the back four.
Bosman’s best chance came when Laurent Dansereau hit the crossbar in the 89th minute. United is 3-4-3, Bosman 1-8-1.
The league's two heavyweights – Brown Benefits of Kelowna and Penticton United – battled to a thrilling 3-3 draw at City Park South.
Penticton jumped out to an early lead when Mike Beliveau’s long-range effort somehow eluded keeper Steven Heiss.
The Browns answered right back with a goal-of-the-year candidate shot to the top corner from Larry Kinakin.
Penticton took a stranglehold on the match when Jon Padgett’s diving header at the far post regained the lead. That was followed by Sean Goodsell’s point-blank shot which found the roof of the net shortly after.
In the second half, the Browns came out determined to improve on their first-half display and were rewarded when Lionel Hoffman’s 30-yarded found the bottom corner. The Browns poured on the pressure and thought they had levelled the score when Steve Fagan pounced on a rebound but he was deemed offside.
As the 9-0-1 Browns pushed forward, Penticton (8-0-2) tried to strike on the counter attack but were thwarted each time by Heiss, including a close-range corker from Mauricio Cepeda that Heiss managed to block and gather.
Finally, the Browns got their reward in the final minute as Tony Gonzales took a pass from Hoffman and deked past a defender and keeper Tony Sheremeta to slip the ball into the back of the net.
Penticton had one last chance before the end of the match as a shot was fired toward the Browns net and appeared to strike an arm but the referee waved away the Penticton protests. As the final whistle sounded, tempers erupted and several cards were issued, including a red to Cepeda.
Meanwhile, the NET Celtics are hosting the Vernon Co-Ed tourney Aug. 6-7. Interested teams may enter at vernonsoccer.ca under tournaments.