All about winning battles

Lusitania player Dalibor Planinac defends against Ital-Inter during Manitoba Soccer Association Cup action last night. JASON HALSTEAD/SUN MEDIA

All about winning battles

Sweeper back on the pitch after fighting through cancer

By KIRK PENTON, SUN MEDIA

Dalibor Planinac has been through enough in his life that the score shouldn't matter anymore.
Maybe, however, he's still here because the score has always mattered.
The 27-year-old sweeper for Winnipeg's Lusitania senior men's soccer team received a jolt in November 2005 that no one should have to endure. A poster boy for health, the former soccer pro from Croatia was told by a doctor that he had Hodgkins lymphoma.
CANCER.
"I never drank in my life, never smoked in my life," Planinac said last night. "I never even tried."

The doctors told him his disease was 85% curable. Never before had 15% seemed so big to the 6-foot-3, 175-pound Serbian.
"Better 85% than 50%," he said. "I was shocked. I was happy that I live here with my family, because I didn't have to work. I mean, you can't work.
"The treatments were really hard, really hard, really hard. But I fought through it."
Planinac endured eight months of chemotherapy. He got two treatments a month, and the first week after each session was spent in bed. Just as he started to feel somewhat normal again, he was off to another treatment.
He gained more than 50 pounds thanks to the steroids that restored his appetite. His hair fell out. Just when he thought life couldn't get any worse after leaving war-torn Croatia in 2000, after his home had been destroyed and some of his extended family had been killed, it was.
"The doctor said, 'Make sure you don't give up during the treatments. If you give up, you're pretty much done,' " Planinac said. "Lots of people go for treatments and they stop in the middle of it because it's so hard to handle it."
Planinac didn't give up, and now he's back on the pitch. He played for Sokol during his first five years in Winnipeg, but the team folded during his cancer battle.
The reason he decided to make his comeback with Lusitania is simple: That's where his brother, Dragan, had signed up to play.
"I decided that after what I went through to spend more time with my brother," Planinac said. "I didn't really care how well we were going to do. Playing with my brother was more important, because I realized that no one knows what can happen in life."
Other top-notch local players, like Nano Romero, followed Planinac to Lusitania, and the side is not only surviving its first season in the Manitoba Major Soccer League's Premier Division; it's thriving.
"Dalibor has been one of our top players, no doubt. He's very good," Lusitania manager Rick Moreira said. "He's one of the strongest, best defenders in the whole league."
Last night Ken Sacramento scored as Lusitania downed Ital-Inter 1-0 in a Manitoba Soccer Association Cup senior men's semifinal. Lusitania will play the powerhouse Sons of Italy Lions in tomorrow night's final at the Winnipeg Soccer Complex. Game time is 7:30.
The Sons of Italy edged Hellas SC 1-0 in last night's other semifinal on a second-half goal by Ryan Dyck. The winner of tomorrow night's final will advance to the Canadian club championship in Halifax in October.
The women's final will also be played tomorrow. Sweat Shack will take on Team United at 1 p.m. at Norm Konowalchuk Soccer Stadium (Red River).
And even though, in the big picture, tomorrow night's score between Lusitania and Sons of Italy doesn't matter, it still does to Planinac.
"It does, actually," he said. "I'm very competitive. I don't like to lose."
That much is evident.\

Sons of Italy triumph over Lusitania for MSA Cup

By KIRK PENTON, SUN MEDIA

Thanks in large part to Steve Sawatzky's educated guess, the Sons of Italy Lions are headed back to nationals.
The Sons of Italy edged FC Lusitania 2-1 in last night's Manitoba Soccer Association Cup senior men's final in front of 600 spectators at Winnipeg Soccer Complex.
The Lions will compete in the national tournament in Halifax in October. Last night's triumph gave them their fourth MSA Cup title since 1996 and first since 2002, when they went on to capture a Canadian crown.
"It's been like a bad dream almost," Lions player-coach Tony Nocita said of the last four seasons. "Because if you look at our record in the last three or four years, I would say probably out of 100 games we've won 95 and lost just a Cup game or two."
Thanks to Sawatzky, the Sons goalkeeper, their MSA Cup losing streak was in no danger of continuing last night.
Shortly after Justin Parry gave the Lions a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute, Lusitania was awarded a penalty kick. Ken Sacremento took the shot for an injured Sanel Mendin and fired a bullet towards the left corner.
Unfortunately for Sacremento, that's exactly where Sawatzky was headed.
"A lot of times it comes down to nerves a little bit and a little bit of luck," said Sawatzky, who has been with the Lions since they were incorporated 12 years ago.
"I just had a feeling that was the way that he was going to go, based on the way that he plays a little bit. I made my mind up I was going that way early."
It was a huge save, and 14 minutes later 20-year-old Adam Hajkowski put the Lions up 2-0. Chris Lourenco, in the 69th minute, got Lusitania on the board, but it couldn't get the equalizer.
"That save was a key," Lusitania manager Rick Moreira said. "You have to give the goalie credit. That's why he's one of the best. It was a great save. It definitely was a game-breaker."
In the senior women's final yesterday afternoon, Laura Locke and Karli Colpitts both scored twice to propel Sweat Shack past Team United 4-1. Stephanie Rurak had the lone goal for United.
Meanwhile, in the under-18 boys' and girls' provincial finals yesterday, the Bonivital Flames ruled the pitch.
Ben Getachew scored in overtime to lead Bonivital past South End United 1-0 in the boys' final, while Ali Kastner had the only goal in the Flames' 1-0 victory over the Northern Lights.
The senior women's nationals are also in Halifax, at the same time as the men's event, while both Bonivital squads will compete at the under-18 national tournament in Fredericton, also in October. Shortly after Justin Parry gave the Lions a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute, Lusitania was awarded a penalty kick. Ken Sacremento took the shot for an injured Sanel Mendin and fired a bullet towards the left corner.
Unfortunately for Sacremento, that's exactly where Sawatzky was headed.
"A lot of times it comes down to nerves a little bit and a little bit of luck," said Sawatzky, who has been with the Lions since they were incorporated 12 years ago.
"I just had a feeling that was the way that he was going to go, based on the way that he plays a little bit. I made my mind up I was going that way early."
It was a huge save, and 14 minutes later 20-year-old Adam Hajkowski put the Lions up 2-0. Chris Lourenco, in the 69th minute, got Lusitania on the board, but it couldn't get the equalizer.
"That save was a key," Lusitania manager Rick Moreira said. "You have to give the goalie credit. That's why he's one of the best. It was a great save. It definitely was a game-breaker."
In the senior women's final yesterday afternoon, Laura Locke and Karli Colpitts both scored twice to propel Sweat Shack past Team United 4-1. Stephanie Rurak had the lone goal for United.
Meanwhile, in the under-18 boys' and girls' provincial finals yesterday, the Bonivital Flames ruled the pitch.
Ben Getachew scored in overtime to lead Bonivital past South End United 1-0 in the boys' final, while Ali Kastner had the only goal in the Flames' 1-0 victory over the Northern Lights.
The senior women's nationals are also in Halifax, at the same time as the men's event, while both Bonivital squads will compete at the under-18 national tournament in Fredericton, also in October.