What comes next is anyone’s guess.
But the EDC Burnaby soccer team enters this weekend’s Provincial Cup masters A division semifinal with some bounce, after blasting UVic Alumni 4-0 in quarter-final action last week.
Powered by a pair of goals from team scoring leader Bernard Rockson, EDC jumped into a showdown against league rival Coquitlam Metro-Ford, a team they handled 3-1 in early March en route to the Masters A Cup title.
Against UVic, Rockson gave Burnaby the lead with 10 minutes left in the first half, while Ducivan De Souza, Habil Otieno and Elmer Arias hit the scoresheet in the second half.
“We just kept our composure,” remarked co-coach Gus Ramirez of the effort. “They were a bigger team but we battled hard and took advantage of our chances.
“Once we got the second goal it was fairly under control.”
Also turning in strong work were Stedman Espinoza, Nasser Najm and goalkeeper Hugo Vazquez.
While he would be fairly confident going up against Coquitlam if all things were equal, Ramirez admitted his team could be in tough due to absences and injuries.
“We’re going to be a little bit short,” he said. “I’m scrambling to make sure we have the bodies to (compete).”
During the regular season, Burnaby fell 4-3 to Metro-Ford, and played them to a 1-1 draw.
The game will be played Saturday, 8 p.m. at Empire turf field in Vancouver.
Considering this is the inaugural season for EDC in the Vancouver Metro Over-35 Premier League, success has come in bunches.
Recruiting a handful of players with prior Over-35 league experience, EDC relied upon a good number of graduates from the program’s Premier side.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” said Ramirez, himself a former VMSL premier player. “We just wanted to come in and compete, so winning (the Masters Cup) was a great accomplishment.”
Although they finished the regular season in sixth position, at 8-3-8, the squad peeled off a succession of wins to capture the cup title last month.
Their route to the Masters Cup final involved beating Coquitlam Metro-Ford and Westside, both who finished well ahead of them in the standings. It also meant they had to win five games, beginning with a play-in match.
In other club news, the EDC Burnaby under-21 were not as fortunate in their quarter-final match, falling 6-2 to the Abbotsford Storm.
In the Open B division, Burnaby’s Impero Calcio defeated crosstown rival Sierra FC to move on to the semifinal, with a matchup in Coquitlam against Metro-Ford Lupi on Sunday, 6:30 p.m. at Town Centre Park.
The Wanderers FC of Burnaby stampeded past Vic West 6-0 to advance into the Masters B semifinal. They meet Vancouver Metro League’s ICSF Columbus on Friday, 9 p.m. at Fortius field at Joe Sakic Way.
