Vuk Erbez made good on Burnaby Central’s last chance at a B.C. high school berth into the AAA boys’ soccer championships.
Erbez assisted on two goals by Wildcats’ teammate Parker Ellis and also scored off a second-half free kick to lead Burnaby Central to a 3-0 victory over Handsworth in the North Shore/BurWest zone provincial qualifying match last Thursday.
Earlier last week, Central lost 2-1 to Sutherland for the No. 1 zone berth into the upcoming B.C. high school championships in Burnaby Nov. 21 to 23.
“(Central) realized they missed an opportunity,” said Wildcats head coach Anto Steko. “I saw it in their faces, they really, really wanted to play.”
Ellis gave the Burnaby league champs a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal set up on a Erbez steal in the midfield. Ellis received the ball from his teammate and deked the Handsworth keeper, slotting the ball into the net from a tough angle.
The North Shore runner-up came out in the second half and took the play to Central, but with just seven minutes left in the contest Ellis took a ball from Erbez and scored from just inside the 18-yard box.
Erbez capped the win with a classic free kick from outside the box, putting the ball past the defensive player wall and into the bottom corner.
“It’s the worst part trying to weather a 1-0 game. I think they realized that, and took the advantage,” Steko added.
Trevor Hughes recorded the shutout in goal from the ’Cats.
In Burnaby, BNW runner-up Cariboo Hill Chargers were unlucky following a 3-2 shutout loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in a AA boys’ soccer qualifier at Cariboo Oval on Thursday.
The arguably more skilled Chargers were victimized on two long goal-scoring shots on goal, but battled back on both occasions to equalize, but could not manage to put the go-ahead goal past STA keeper Sam MacDonald.
The High Performance League Fusion FC keeper made a number of key stops and also had some luck on his side to record the win.
But in the shootout, it was all MacDonald, making huge stops on Kirk Menezes and Scott Duncan to help the North Shore independent school to a 3-1 advantage on penatly kicks.
David Genet tied the contest 2-2 late in the second half on a pretty play, taking a short pass on his left foot and firing a low shot past the STA keeper from 20 yards out.
With Cariboo pressing, Menezes just missed the goal with a low, hard strike.
Alberto Pincelli also had a couple of fine crosses go wanting, including a ball to Manraj Sidhu that wound up in a red card to the Charger player, despite the appearance a possible foul by a North Shore defender.
Down a man, Cariboo’s Duncan had a header off a long free kick by Menezes, glance off both the post and crossbar from from close range in the dying moments of the match.
In overtime, both Menezes and Genet had chances on Pincelli attacks.
“I felt like we controlled the game more than they did. We played with more skill. We were just unlucky, said Lucas Nadiu, who had to leave the field late in the game following hard tackle from behind.
The B.C. high school championships will begin with the AA finals on Nov. 18 at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-West. The AAA tournament starts on Thursday, Nov. 21.
