Estrella de Chile has once again proven its worth, defeating the ICST Pegasus 3-2 in the first round of provincial play.
Head coach Claudio Ramirez couldn't help but be proud of his team who - after only one season in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League's premier division - managed to come back from a 2-0 start and beat Pegasus in extra time.
"It's pretty exciting for us to be in this position," he said.
But the game didn't start off the way Ramirez had hoped.
By the 30-minute mark Chile was down 2-0 to Pegasus, a team they'd beaten - if not dominated, Ramirez said - in regular season play.
A free kick and a penalty kick forced Chile to play catch-up, but it took until the second half for the team to really get going.
"I wasn't really nervous as I was upset that they weren't playing the way they normally play, they weren't taking it to the other team, they weren't trying to hold on to the ball," he said. "Maybe they were a bit overwhelmed at the pressure of the game, but we were not on (in) the first 30 minutes of that game."
Whatever the reason, Ramirez relayed his feelings to his team during the halftime break and with the start of the second half, Chile was back playing the style of game that led them to a winning season in the premier league.
The turning point came when goalie Michael Newton stopped a breakaway kick from Pegasus. Almost immediately after, Chile turned up the heat scoring their first goal of the game, which came from Eric Roy.
"Our goalie made a fantastic save and that was really the trigger point," Ramirez said.
The tying goal came around the 25-minute mark from Brian Dotting.
Dotting's goal forced the game into extra time where Habil Otieno scored the winning goal for Chile, about six-and-a-half minutes into the first 15 of extra time.
With this win, Estrella de Chile advances to the quarter finals of provincial play where they'll face Surrey United- the only team to have beaten Chile during the regular season - some time this weekend.
"We had some good matches against Surrey United, at times we dominated them but for the most part they came out at the good end of the scoreboard," he said.
In an exhibition game a few weeks back, Chile managed to tie Surrey at 2-2.
Ramirez hopes the team can recapture the strength of that game during the upcoming quarter final this weekend.
"If we manage to stay disciplined and impose our will on the game we'll be fine, regardless of the outcome," he said. "We take it one game at a time, we've got nothing to lose."
