The McMath Wildcats have steamrolled their way to next week’s B.C. AAA Girls Soccer Championships in Tsawwassen, having not lost a game yet in league and playoff action.
The Wildcats went 7-0-0 in Richmond League play, then earned the city’s No. 1 seed for the “AAA” tier by outscoring their opponents 19-0 in a pair of playoff games. It was then off to the Vancouver/Richmond zone championships where the dominance continued.
McMath blanked Van Tech 3-0 in the semi-finals, then defeated No. 2 ranked Kitsilano by the same score. It all adds up to being one of the teams to beat when the provincial championships get underway next Thursday.
The Wildcats impressive run of late moved them from an honourable mention to No. 5 in the latest AAA rankings.
The team is led by an outstanding group of Grade 12 multi-sport athletes who excel in other sports as well. Montana Leonard (University of Calgary), Clare Reynolds (UVic), Claire Siqueira (Laurier), Ellie Reid (Laurier) and Hannah Partridge (Langara) have all earned soccer scholarships to their respective schools.
The seniors also include basketball standouts Jessica Jones and Jessica Zawada who will be continuing their hoop careers at Simon Fraser and the University of the Fraser Valley respectively.
Partidge and Zawada have been members of McMath’s city champion volleyball, basketball and soccer teams dating all the way back to Grade 8.
The 2016 soccer team also features: Ali Burns Carmen Milne, Claire Reynolds, Dakota Chan, Elizabeth Kibblewhite, Emma James, Georgia Booker, Alyssaa Bhandal, Jalen Donaldson, Kristen Wilshire, Lauren Dickson, Madison Elcombe, Morgan Flynn, Samantha Trueman, Samantha Narduzzi and Alison Carver.
The Wildcats are coached by Stephen Burns and Paul Pedersen.
Burns is once again seeing “double-duty” this season by guiding the team at South Delta Secondary where he has been a longtime teacher. He has coached the Sun Devils to a record 15th straight provincial tournaments. His workload will be even more hectic with South Delta hosting the provincials too.
