In a thrilling men’s semi-final on Saturday afternoon the VIU Mariners punched their ticket to the PACWEST gold medal game after a hard fought 1-0 shutout of the Langara Falcons.
The lone goal was scored by Hector Valdez in the 37th minute on a wild goal that bounced high over the head of Falcons’ keeper Aleks Kalajdzic.
Speaking of keepers, Ben Chamberlin of the Mariners was a brick wall making some outstanding saves on the pressing Falcons, particularly in the late stages of the second half. He came up with massive saves in the 75th, 78th and 81st minutes to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard. He finished with 10 stops in the shutout.
With the victory the Mariners will now play for PACWEST gold on Sunday afternoon against the top seeded Douglas Royals at 3:00pm. This will be a rematch of the 2019 gold medal game that the Mariners won.
Players of the Game
VIU Mariners – Hector Valdez
Langara Falcons – Henrique Claros
