CAMAS, WA— There’s likely to be a winner tonight in Camas — even if the match ends in a draw. Vancouver Victory FC hosts the Spokane Shadow in the biggest Evergreen Premier League match of the season so far at 7 PM at Doc Harris Stadium (Spokane Shadow match preview.) Both teams come in to the match in control of their own destiny in terms of winning the league. The Victory can finish first with four wins to close out their second campaign. The Shadow can do the same, though they have six matches left to run through.
Vancouver (7-2-1, 22 points) would be 11-2-1 with 34 points if they win out. That would guarantee a finish ahead of race mates South Sound FC and Spokane. The Shadow (5-1-2, 17 points) could finish as high as 11-1-2 and 35 points if they sweep six more wins. The South Sound Shock (7-1-2, 23 points) play tonight in Lakewood against Yakima United.
Whomever wins tonight in Camas remains in control of their own fate. But what if they draw? Then the “loser” is Vancouver and the “Winner” would be South Sound. A draw would reduce the Victory’s total possible points to 32. It would leave Spokane’s total possible points above them at 33. If South Sound wins tonight at home against Yakima, their possible total points would remain at 35. Vancouver hosts South Sound on Wednesday July 8 at McKenzie Stadium.
“We know the task in front of us,” says Victory owner Barrett Goddard. “We built a bit of a cushion when we started 7-0-0, and now that is gone. But we still control our fate. Spokane is a very tough opponent. We will need to play better than we have in recent weeks to get a win.”
Specifically, the Victory will need to rediscover their offense. It won’t be easy with attacker Borce Atanasov now playing for the Kitsap Pumas. Somehow, somewhere someone will have to step up and start scoring. Maybe it will be Timur Zhividze who gets back on track. He has six goals to lead Vancouver, but has not scored since June 6th at Seattle.
The defending champion Shadow have been in this spot before. Last year they turned a slow start into a raging finish and won the league with 32 points. This year it might take 35.
“We are excited to play Spokane, and to host them as a part of the “Clash at the Border,” hosted by the Washington Timbers,” says Goddard. “We hope many of the youth clubs we have distributed tickets to plan to come out to the match. They are going to see excellent soccer and a crucial league match.”
Vancouver broke through with a 2-0 win in Spokane on May 16th of this year. The Shadow have not lost a match since then.
