Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Still hot

By David Trifunov - September 04, 2004

Ron Badanai scored twice as Italia-Juventus opened the $10,000 Thunder Bay Invitational soccer tournament with a 2-1 victory over Portuguese at Fort William Stadium on Friday night.Juve is the top Thunder Bay team and has a semifinal berth in the District League thanks to an undefeated record in 10 regular season games and two straight playoff victories.But coach Frank Lacaria stressed that his team considers the Labour Day weekend a barometer for the season. First prize in the men’s first division is $4,000 and the money has attracted teams from Winnipeg.The Minneapolis Internationals are defending champions.“That’s the big test,” he said. “Now we get to see how we really compare with the competition.”Kyle Kawahara responded for Portuguese, but it was a game neither side seemed happy with the result.“I don’t think we had a particularly strong game today,” Lacaria said. “I felt that we could’ve been a little better with our passing and our decision making on the field.”In last night’s only other game, Travis Komar and Matthew Eaton each scored as the Volunteer Pool Spiders escaped with a 2-1 victory over EuroStars.Komar ended a goalmouth scramble early in the first half and it appeared the game was going to end 1-0. But Eaton capitalized on a defensive miscue to make it 2-0 late.He stole the ball deep in EuroStars territory and went in alone, beating the goalie and scoring into an empty net.Spiders goalie Larry Johanson turned away a pair of EuroStars chances as the game came to a close, but he was eventually beaten by Bryan Arruda. He wasn’t about to be outdone in the deke department and finally broke through after two clever moves in close.“As the game went on they matured,” Spiders coach Paul Facca said. “I think we can hold our own (this weekend).”There are 24 men’s and women’s teams competing in four divisions this weekend. Play continues all day in the ninth annual edition of the tournament at the Stadium and Chapples Park.Among today’s marquee matches in the men’s first division, Thunder Bay Croatia faces Winnipeg Hellas at noon at Chapples.To conclude the action at 6 p.m., Italia-Juventus and Winnipeg Sokol meet at the Stadium.The women’s first division also has an interesting game at noon. Winnipeg’s Team Extreme and Thunder Bay Impact meet at Chapples.The finals begin Monday at 9 a.m. with the men’s first division wrapping up the weekend at