The Burnaby/New Westminster high school girls’ soccer playoffs should come down to a three-team race.
Burnaby North Vikings, Burnaby Central Wildcats and New Westminster Hyacks finished 1-2-3 in the regular season following separate shutout wins on the final day of league play on Tuesday.
Regular season champion North stopped Burnaby South 5-0, while Central held the fort against Moscrop to gain second place overall with a 2-0 victory.
New West took advantage of an undermanned Alpha squad to post a 6-0 win to place third despite finishing with a similar 6-1 record to the top two school teams.
North claimed top spot on a head-to-head tiebreaker with the other two schools following a 2-0 win over Central and a 1-0 loss to the Hyacks.
New West nipped North 1-0 earlier in the season, while Central blanked the Hyacks 2-0 in its league showdown.
At Central, Reesa Wright, with the game-winner, and Allison Gault both scored first-half goals for the Wildcats.
Morgan Wright claimed the shutout with some solid goalkeeping in the second half against a game Moscrop squad.
Juliet Davies tallied a hat trick in a multi-goal second half for the Hyacks. Sadie Farina recorded her fourth shutout in five games for the New West side.
The Hyacks played Byrne Creek, while Alpha and South tangled in the other quarter-final played Thursday (after NOWdeadlines).
North and Central will take on the lowest and highest seeded quarter-final winners, respectively, in semifinal play on Tuesday, May 6.
Earlier in the season, Central was ranked as high as second in the province, in what was largely considered an inaccurate poll.
But the net effect of the honour was not lost on the Wildcats, said the Central goalie.
“That was so awesome,” said Morgan. “We’re kind of hoping that we can be that good. It’s a goal to work towards.”
