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South Burnaby Strikes silver at under-17 Provincial B Cup

Two other 4District teams drop bronze-medal consolation finals

The South Burnaby Strikers left their hearts in Richmond.

The Coastal Cup under-15 boys’ B champions settled for a silver medal following a 1-0 loss to the Penticton Pinnacles in the gold-medal final at the B.C. Soccer Provincial B Cup championships at Hugh Boyd Oval on Sunday.

The Strikers needed a basketful of goals in their final group stage game against Richmond to advance to the championships and they got it. But it came at a cost.

South Burnaby and the Surrey FC Ravens both finished with 2-0-1 records to top Group 1, including a 2-2 draw to start the provincials.

With both teams tied in goals for heading into the final stage matches, Burnaby had the advantage of witnessing Surrey’s 4-0 win over a Cowichan Valley side prior to their game.

The Strikers then took the field and earned a spot in the cup final following a 5-0 victory over the Richmond Youth Lightning in their final game of the pool stage.

“The boys were working so hard, but I think they ran out of steam because of the goals we had to score to qualify,” said South Burnaby head coach Melvin Juni. “We are just so proud of the boys, they did everything they could.”

Two other 4District clubs – Royal City Westminster United and Cliff Avenue United were both denied medals in their respective divisions.

Westminster United opened play with multi-goal wins over Kootenay South and Cowichan Valley, but dropped its final game 2-1 to Prince George to move to the consolation final.

On Sunday, the New West Coastal Cup runner-up played second fiddle to Ladner in a second consecutive final, dropping a 3-2 decision.

Dieved Penalver and Marcus Zacharuk scored for New West.

And for a second straight game between the two clubs, Westminster again played with a short bench.

“It’s a great experience for them to play at a high level,” said United head coach Ed Zacharuk. “I liked the way the boys fought through what they had to fight through.”

Cliff Avenue was also denied a medal following a 4-0 loss to Coquitlam Metro-Ford in the bronze-medal final.

In group play, Cliff lost 2-1 to eventual finalist Pinnacles on penalty kicks in the opening match before blanking both Delta Coastal and Columbia Valley.

“We had a successful season and we’re proud of our achievements, and we hope to do it again next year,” said Cliff Avenue coach Vito Lore.

The Cliff Avenue United girls finished out of the medals in the u-18 division with a 1-2-1 record.

Correction

The Burnaby Selects under-16 girls team won a bronze medal at the B.C. Soccer Provincial A Cup championships.

The Selects defeated Saanich Fusion FC 2-1 in the consolation final at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-West on Sunday. The Coastal Cup champions finished with a 2-2-0 record at the provincials.