The inconvenience of bringing their rivalry to Surrey was more than made up for by the end rewards for the McRoberts Strikers and McNair Marlins.
The senior boys soccer teams left their mark on the inaugural South Fraser AA Championships— finishing first and second respectively to lock up provincial berths.
The Strikers squeezed past the Marlins 2-1 in Thursday’s title game played at Newton Athletic Park. The location reflected the new zone that features schools from Richmond, Surrey and Delta. The South Fraser Soccer Commission also opted to continue the old Fraser Valley zone tradition of having a neutral site championship day with the AAA final between Panorama Ridge and South Delta taking place on the adjacent field.
If it means travelling 40-kilometres annually to win zone banners and medals, the Strikers will gladly take it. They are headed back to the B.C. Championships for the second time in three years under longtime coaches Drew Arnold and Gregg Marr.
McRoberts opened the South Fraser playdowns with a 5-0 win over Surrey’s Salish Wolves then defeated North Delta’s Sands Scorpions 3-1 in Tuesday’s semi-final. The run was completed by avenging an earlier loss to the Marlins in league play.
“This is a collective group of very hard working, very skilled and very talented young players. They have gelled and really come together in the last month or so,” said Arnold. “It’s really a classic high school soccer team with a mix of players from different levels. Our philosophy is to get everyone immersed in the culture of the program so even our Grade 8s and Grade 9s that tryouts get to see some game time (at some point of the season).”
Arnold was not only happy with the win in the final but also coming out of it with no injuries or cards since a provincial tournament spot had already been achieved.
“Both of us already had berths so it was a point of pride and to win the zone, especially in the inaugural season. It’s important for the boys and they are relishing this moment,” he added.
“We have a lot of respect for McNair with a longstanding rivalry and it’s all in good nature. It could go either way with two very strong teams. Today we edged them out and credit to them as they played a fantastic game too.”
The Marlins were looking to add to what has already been their best season in five years, under coach Maria Zanikos who is now in her 21st year guiding soccer teams at the school.
McNair will play the McMath Wildcats for the Richmond Cup this coming week, thanks for being the top AA team during the regular season, then head to Burnaby for the 16-team tournament, starting November 18.
“Every year we always seem to fall short of provincials by being just that one game away. “The boys are really working hard this year and it’s nice to see it is paying off,” said Zanikos.
“It’s a bittersweet day for us knowing that we still get to go through but unfortunately it’s just the way it goes. We had our chances but the better team prevailed today. We still have some big games in front of us and we are pretty excited about that.”
The Marlins locked up the trip to Burnaby with a pair of wins at Minoru Park — opening with a 5-0 triumph over Pacific Academy then exploding in the second half for a 4-0 victory against Surrey Christian in the semis.
Zanikos also praised the support of assistant coaches Jessy Dhillon and Jas Dhari who have joined her this year.
