Foothills FC earns berth in Final Four
That moment, 78 minutes into Saturday night’s game, will forever be filed near the top of Dominick Zator’s memory bank.
“It was a roller-coaster of emotions going through the whole game,” said the Calgary Foothills FC centreback.
“The ball just fell on my chest nicely and I just wanted to hit it. It went in. I can’t really explain it ... and now we’re all excited.”
With a quick flick of the foot, Zator’s goal at the Kino Sports Complex pitch lifted his squad to a 2-1 victory over hometown FC Tucson — and the 2016 Premier Development League Western Conference championship.
Foothills FC now advances to the Final Four and will play the Eastern Conference champ Ocean City Nor’easters in a semifinal next weekend — the location, date and time have yet to be released by the league. Ocean City defeated Reading United 4-1 on Sunday night.
“The goal that Dominick scored is going to go down in the record books,” said head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. on Sunday. “Yesterday, we’re in Tucson, the host team, the No. 1-ranked team in the West, and we took them down. What’s great about it is, they have a couple of U.S. under-20 internationals playing for them, they’ve got players in NCAA Division 1 schools, and we’ve just got some guys with talent and heart from Canada who have proven they’re not here just to make up the numbers.”
Foothills FC took a 1-0 first-half lead on a strike by forward Dominic Russo. The favoured locals did some tinkering in the second half and Kyle Adams notched the equalizer at the 65-minute mark, before Zator broke the deadlock.
“We knew there would be periods of the game where FC Tucson would come back in. They’re the No. 1-ranked team for a reason,” Wheeldon said. “They had a lot of possession without penetrating and when they scored the goal it put us on the back foot.
“These boys have been in so many one-goal games that they know how to see it out.
“I became confident that, whatever FC Tucson threw at us, there was going to be a Foothills force field around the goal.”
Zator agreed with his coach’s assessment.
“After that goal, everyone worked so well defensively, we’re just a tight-knit group,” said Zator, also a defender at the University of Calgary. “I just think we’re unstoppable right now, the way we’re defending so well, the way we’re penetrating forward.
“I was with Foothills since about U10, a really long time,” he added.
“So it’s pretty sweet knowing me and the majority of the team, homegrown players, a lot of us came through this program and now we’re in this position. Knowing all the hard work we did actually pays off and doing it for the club we played for in our youth just makes it that much better.”
It’s a combination of factors which have propelled Foothills FC to its lofty heights, Wheeldon said.
“A lot of teams have talent,” he said.
“We have that. We tick that box. We’ve worked hard on our chemistry and culture. These boys play for each other. You can’t bottle that.
“It’s the teams that go on to be successful that are willing to sacrifice, sometimes their minutes, often their body. When they have that power of unity, we’re a tough team to play against.”
And now, out of the 67 teams across North America that toil in the PDL, Foothills FC are one of four remaining and there’s a certain confidence emanating.
“Right now, the way were playing, we’re just moving forward,” said Zator. “It really doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we’re on the right stride. Whoever comes at us, we’ll keep playing our game and continue this unbelievable streak.”