A win in their season finale on Saturday gave Cowichan Red Arrow the best record in Div. 4 of the Vancouver Island Soccer League this season and promotion to Div. 3 for next year.
Red Arrow beat Gorge FC 4-0 at the Sherman Road turf on Saturday afternoon to finish with a record of 15 wins, two draws and two losses in their first season for 47 points, one more than runner-up Castaways Invicta.
Cowichan needed the win on Saturday to clinch the Div. 4 title, and weren’t going to take it easy on Gorge, no matter what.
“Gorge was in trouble from the start, with missing players, but we had designs on winning the league, so no quarter would be given,” head coach Will Chaster said.
Hoping to create more offence, Chaster changed his usual winning formula of 4-5-1 to a 3-5-2 formation on Saturday.
”In the event we lost and Castaways tied, we would need to improve our goal differential,” Chaster explained. “So I wanted more attacking play.”
Tied 0-0 at halftime, more than one Cowichan player started to doubt Chaster’s plan, but some of the more experienced players could see what was developing and stuck with it. Sam Smith got Cowichan on the board, then Patrick Foley scored, followed by Matt Owens, and then Foley again.
“This makes for a very happy end to the season and the players are already talking about Div. 3 next year,” Chaster said.