Royals christen new trophy with tourney title- Kenora Daily Miner

Royals christen new trophy with tourney title

Local squad wins Kenora Men’s Invitational Soccer tournament

By Peter James

Kenora Daily Miner and News Monday July 25, 2005

A new trophy was handed out at the Kenora Men’s Invitational Soccer tournament and it could herald in a new era for the sport in town.The Wiley Point Royals captured their first ever tournament championship Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 win over Minnedosa, going undefeated in five tournament games.The Royals took the play to Minnedosa in the early going, scoring in the first minute and then again 10 minutes later. Both the goals came off the foot of striker Jeff Richards. In each case he raced down the left side of the field out running the Minnedosa defenders and slipping the ball past a charging goaltender.Richards said his team noticed the Minnedosa defense were backing off a bit and he decided to go for the quick strike early.The quick lead provided a spark for the Royals, but they weren’t content to sit back on their heels. Twice in the weekend tournament they held two goal leads only to see them evaporate.“After we got the two we knew we needed to keep going. We knew we would need three for victory,” Richards said.The back breaking goal came in the 23rd minute when team captain Linden Penner came down the left side and crossed the ball to Eric Brown. The Minnedosa keeper made the stop but the ball bounced right to Ryan Bowen who had a wide open net to aim at.The Royals went up 4-0 in the 67th minute when a Minnedosa player headed the ball into his own net off a Royals free kick. The visitors got on the board late in the game when Ryan McLean beat Royals goaltender Jeff Goodman on a penalty kick.Goodman was solid in net otherwise for the Royals, who played well defensively in the second half.Not only was the win big for the team because it gives them a tournament title, but it helps to bust the perception that they can’t win the big games. After winning the league title in 2001, the Royals have lost in the final twice (in 2003 and 2004) and last year’s tournament final.With Sunday’s win under their belt the team has set an even higher goal, the Kenora soccer triple crown.“That was our goal at the beginning of the season,” Penner said. “We want all three.”To attain that they would have to win the regular season points race and the challenge cup in the playoffs. The last team to finish off the crown was the Solid Construction Stingers in 2003.The Royals win was also significant in that it wrests control of the tournament title from the Stingers. The dynastic team has won the title four times in the past 10 years and over that span no other local squad has tasted victory.“This good not only for our team but for the league to have someone other than the Stingers win the tournament,” Richards said.In fact the Royals had to get through the Stingers earlier Sunday in semi-final action. The Wiley Point boys scored twice to open the scoring, but two quick goals late in the second half by the Stingers forced extra time. The Royals were victorious after scoring the golden goal.The Stingers went on to lose the third place match 5-3, in penalty kicks to the defending champion Spitfire team from Winnipeg. Dave Hewitt had the lone goal for the Stingers in regulation play. In the penalty kicks the Winnipeg team connected on all four of their shots, while the Stingers only put two of their four chances in the net.In the consolation final Lusitania out of Winnipeg, one of the most skilled teams in the tournament, beat the Plaza Fury 3-1.The tournament featured 16 teams, eight of them from Kenora. The visitors came from Fort Frances, Dryden, Minnedosa and Winnipeg.This year’s event was more competitive than ever. In the round robin portion of event three of the four pools featured a tie for first place that needed to be broken using goals for and against. The Stingers, Spitfire and Royals all benefited by moving to the A-side playoffs while the Fury, Lusitania and Fort Frances were all relegated to the B-side despite having unbeaten records.back