Pinnacles kick off against new team, Kamloops
Penticton men set to host TRU players on Saturday
The Penticton Tim Hortons Pinnacles are excited to have an Okanagan rival in the Pacific Coast Soccer League Premier Men’s Division this season.
They won’t have to wait long to play the PCSL’s newest team either.
The Kamloops Wolfpack — consisting primarily of players from the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack varsity men’s team — take on the Pinnacles in the season opener Saturday at 4 p.m. at King’s Park.
“We’ve needed to have another Okanagan team in the league since the (Okanagan) Challenge folded,” said Pinnacles interim coach Manuel Borba.
The Pinnacles FC youth program and TRU have forged a great connection in recent years. In fact, three current TRU players who graduated from the local program — Brady Vanryswyk, Jordell Afonso and James Fraser — will be suiting up for the Pinnacles this season against their university teammates.
TRU head coach John Antulov, who is also coaching the PCSL squad, was more than happy to help out the Pinnacles, who will be going almost exclusively with young, local players this season.
“It’s the first time we’ve had so many university players . . . guys that played their youth soccer in Penticton and went on to earn scholarships,” said Borba.
The Pinnacles will also have university players such as Kyle Martins and David and Michael Bohmer from Trinity Western, and Bjorn Borren from Simon Fraser University.
Others such as Xavier Araujo, Isaac Koch and Bret Depner have taken summer jobs elsewhere and are unable to play for Penticton.
Borba also coaches the Pinnacles FC under-18 team and said there is a “real talented group” coming up.
A few, such as Levi Biron and Jan Perron, will likely be regulars for the PCSL Pinnacles this season.
“We’ve got a lot of technically good players, it’s just a question of the physical and mental abilities playing against men,” said Borba. “They’re developing and we’ll probably have to speed up the process . . . let some of them grow on the field.”
Borba said he is still waiting on some veteran players such as Wyatt Seddon-Johnstone and Randy Hubber, who now have full-time jobs and may not be able to commit to playing at the PCSL level.
“We could certainly use more veteran guys to help with the transition for these kids,” said Borba. The Pinnacles’ coaching is also in flux. Marinus Barendregt, who has served as head coach of Holland’s Excelsior Rotterdam under-19 team since 2015, was named head coach in the spring.
Barendregt, who was just in Penticton training with the team, returned to Holland to coach until the end of the season and won’t be rejoining the Pinnacles until sometime in June.
In the meantime, Borba, former Pinnacles head coach Paul Araujo and Tom McGill agreed to share the coaching duties until Barendregt returns.
Araujo, however, recently earned a major job promotion and will be frequently out-of-town on business and unable to coach nearly as much as originally anticipated.
Borba said highly-regarded Vancouver coach Chris Bennett is up training the Pinnacles this week ahead of their season opener.
“It’s great for us to once again have Chris’s expertise,” said Borba.
The Pinnacles also have Tim Hortons back as their major sponsor. He praised Paul Stawarz, who operates the Hortons franchises in Penticton, Oliver and Osoyoos, for backing the Pinnacles for more than 20 years.
“He has been fantastic for us and such a great supporter for our youth soccer programs, too,” said Borba.
The Pinnacles will also be playing in the annual Penticton May long weekend tournament, before resuming PCSL play with another home game against the Mid-Isle Mariners on May 27.
Borba said there will be a beverage garden at Saturday’s opening game and likely for subsequent home games this season.
Other squads in the seven-team league include Khalsa Sporting Club, Victoria Highlanders, Vancouver United FC and the ASA Devils.