A last-minute strike by Marco Sherwood gave Royal City Youth Soccers Westminster United under-15 boys team the Provincial Cup it wanted.
United avenged an earlier 1-0 Coastal Cup loss to 4District rival Killarney All-Stars, defeating the East Vancouver side 3-2 in the championship final of the Les Sinott Memorial provincial soccer championship in Prince George on Sunday.
Sherwood, who had two goals in the match, scored the game-winning goal, first-timing a Daniel Johnson cross from 12 yards out into the far corner of the Killarney net with just four minutes left in regulation time.
It was a sweet, sweet victory, said United coach Ed Zacharuk. In the Coastal Cup we had five chances. In this one, we just finished off our chances and we could have had more. It was the determination of the boys, they really, really wanted it.
Quentin Fox opened the scoring for the New West club on a corner kick from Marcus Zacharuk.
Sherwood headed in his first goal of the game on a Joe Finlay free kick midway through the second half that gave United a 2-1 lead.
But Killarney countered both times, including a penalty shot to knot the score at 2-2.
Silver team callup Calvin Singh showed the teams purpose, subbing in for an injured player and pushing an early shot on goal from inside the six-yeard box just wide in the opening five minutes of play.
Midfielder Dieved Penalver was an energetic presence for Westminster in the match.
Late in the second half, Sterling Tamboline headed a corner attempt just over the bar.
But keeper Matthew Buchanan and the rest of the United boys Ryan Hayes, Ethan Haid, Shea Joshi, Naoll Degife, Taylor Jensen and Adam Fajto closed the door the rest of the way on the east Van side.
Westminster went undefeated in the round robin, outscoring its combined opposition, including a 4-1 opening day win over Kootenay South, by a cumulative 18-1 total.
I told them all along that the extra work in practice will result in us owning the last 15 minutes of every game, said Zacharuk. Its a testament to a group being on the same page and bringing home the u-15 boys provincial title, which had not been done for as long as people can remember.
