Royal City Soccer Club's Westminster United is hoping that the adage 'he who laughs last, laughs best,' applies to them.
The 4District under-15 gold league soccer champion was foiled 1-0 by the Killarney All Stars in the Coastal Cup boys' B final at Minoru Stadium last Sunday.
The loss came after a history of head-to-head clashes between the two district clubs.
Last year, United won a tiebreaker against the All Stars that decided the regular season champion. Later in the cup playdowns, Killarney responded with a 1-0 win over the New West club.
This season, Westminster won the league matchup by a 2-1 score and went on to take first place over the runner-up Killarney team.
"What is interesting is both teams went through all the playdowns with two
teams from the same district in the cup final," " said Westminster United head coach Ed Zacharuk of the rare feat.
In the Coastal final, Westminster had its chances on every corner kick it took but was stymied on each occasion by either a near miss, a goalie deflection or, in one case, a ball cleared off the goal line.
Late in the second half, New Westminster's Markus Zacharuk rang a shot off the far post that bounced out of harm's way.
With just 10 minutes remaining, Killarney knocked the ball out of the keeper's hands and finished with the go-ahead goal.
It is a lesson that Zacharuk hopes his team will learn from in time for the Provincial Cup finals that will be held in Prince George from July 4 to 8.
"It's our time to win this because (the rivalry) has gone back and forth," Zacharuk said.
This weekend, Westminster United will be holding tryouts for next season's squad at Queen's Park-East from 10: 30 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
tberridge@royalcityrecord.com
