The McMath Wildcats will be riding a two-year unbeaten streak into next week’s B.C. AAA Girls Soccer Championships in Victoria.
The fourth ranked Wildcats will head to the 16-team tournament with plenty of momentum after repeating as Vancouver and District champions thanks to a 2-1 overtime victory against No. 5 Kitsilano Blue Demons. The Steveston school hasn’t lost a game since the 2013 season and only a shootout tiebreaker prevented a very likely provincial podium finish a year ago.
McMath and Fleetwood Park battled to a scoreless draw in a showdown that determined first place in their pool group and a semi-final berth. The Surrey school prevailed in the shootout and went on to win the championship.
The hard luck Wildcats settled for fifth place — the best they could do in the playoff format.
This time, head coach Stephen Burns is hoping his girls are better battle-tested for what awaits for them in the provincial capital. He suggests as many as seven teams are capable of taking home gold.
“It’s been way more competitive for us this year, even to get out of Richmond, and I think that is going to help us in the long run,” he said. “McNair gave us a very good game and Kits is an experienced and dangerous team that proved to be a real handful.
“I don’t think we are as a dominant, only because we are not finishing our chances like we did last year. Certainly we are in the mix and you just need everything to go your way in this kind of a tournament. The girls are going to be better prepared and know what to expect. That can go a long way too.”
After trimming the Marlins 2-1 in the city final, the Wildcats defeated Churchill 3-0 to set-up a showdown with Vancouver champion Kitsilano. The Blue Demons forced overtime with a goal in the final seconds, which led to more late heroics, this time off the foot of Montana Leonard to give McMath a dramatic win.
Burns is once again seeing double duty this season. The South Delta Secondary School teacher has guided the Sun Devils to 14 consecutive provincial berths.
Corner kicks…
McNair just came up just short in their bid to advance to provincials, falling 2-0 to Churchill in the third place game.
The Marlins opened the District playoffs with a 4-1 loss to Kitsilano and then rebounded with a 3-2 overtime win over Lord Byng to briefly extend their season.
