Mountain United FC won its first national medal, claiming a bronze medal at the the Canadian Soccer Association club championships in Surrey last week.
The under-17 Mountain boys claimed a bronze medal following a 5-3 victory in a penalty shootout over Alberta in the u-18 finals at South Surrey Athletic Park on Oct. 13.
Following a scoreless regulation and overtime, Mountain was clinical from the penalty spot, scoring from Edris Najm, Evan Libke, Julian Gailiunas, Dzenan Bezdrob and Brendan Shaw. Keeper Mike Girard got the win in goal.
Mountain's Bezdrob and Ola Ajibike shared the Golden Boot as the tournament's leading scorers with another B.C. player - national champion Surrey United's Kyle Sohi - all with five goals in the tournament.
The underage United boys took advantage of an opportunity to take part in the tournament following an 11th-hour pullout by Newfoundland.
“It was certainly a rush,” said Mountain United’s technical director Frank Ciaccia. “I told the boys, ‘We’ve just been handed an unexpected privilege.’ In the semifinal versus Ontario a call here and a bounce here and there and we could have been in the final.”
Mountain’s only loss was a 3-1 defeat to Ajax FC from Ontario. A late penalty kick turned the momentum in the match. Bezdrob scored Mountain's only goal.
Mountain also defeated Halifax City 3-2 in a close game in the second day of competition.
The local squad also had big wins over Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, winning 6-1 over the Prairie club and 7-1 over the Atlantic region champ to kick off the nationals.
Mountain's under-16 girls team, including Sarah Stuart of New Westminster and Burnaby's Jenna Gurniak, Lauren Rea, Stephanie Rizzo and Reesa Wright, placed seventh overall at the club nationals in Mount Pearl, Nfld.
U-15 callup Camila Gomez-Hernandez scored four times in Mountain's final 9-0 victory over Saskatchewan to claim a share of the Golden Boot award as the leading scorer at the nationals.
Other goals came from Rachel Kordysz, Destiny Lutz, Anna Crone and Gurniak, with a pair. Mikayla Isobe posted the shutout in goal.
Mountain opened with a 1-0 win over Hillsborough United from PEI, but lost its next three matches, all by slim margins, including a 4-3 defeat on penalties to Ontario, before finishing the nationals with a flurry of tallies.
Lauren Fuerderer scored the game-winning goal against PEI, while Brooke Molby claimed the shutout.
B.C. teams faired well in all divisions at the various club nationals with what Ciaccia described as the best or one of the better showings by B.C. in some time.
Coquitlam Metro-Ford boys also won gold in the u-16 division, while Coastal FC took silver in the u-14 boys and shared a bronze in the u-16 girls.
Surrey United also placed runner-up in the women's Jubilee Trophy final.
