The fields in Burnaby were packed this past weekend at the 34th Annual South Burnaby Metro Club’s soccer tournament. Hundreds of teams from all over the province took part at every age group and level.
The most competitive group and division was the combined under-17/18 boys’ groups.
SBMC Burnaby FC, marred with injuries throughout the season, was just one goal away from winning the Surrey Mayor’s Cup tournament two weeks earlier.
The South Burnaby team came focused to win it all this time.
The u-17 silver team faced opponents that were not only older but from higher divisions.
South Burnaby stunned Kensington-Little Mountain Kings, created with players from three Vancouver clubs and first in their 4District gold division, tying the current divisional Pioneer Cup champs 3-3 at the spring tournament.
The u-17s took a 3-0 half-time lead at Byrne Creek, before KLM – with desperation and frustration – fought its way back into the game.
Burnaby pressed on even into the final minutes, getting several opportunities to score from corner kicks. Two players missed the open side of the net from a corner right before the final whistle.
In the end, even the tie was a win for Burnaby.
South Burnaby went on to shutout the rest of their opponents and thus finished in first place in their group. They won their final game 4-0 over another Vancouver team and were crowned tournament champions.
KLM lost to the South Burnaby Gunners by points for the and finished in fourth place.
Many of the boys played bronze and silver just a few years ago but with great coaching and development have become stars.
Twins Jonas and Jefferey Cheok kept the defense solid and Anthony Matkovic, one year younger, provided the best goaltending of the tournament to lead their team to a sensational finish.
“This was a great way to finish the season but we’ll still be thinking about the what if’s. If our players had not been injured during the season we would have gone much further in the cup play, but in the end, we showed the talent that was on this team. Anyone can put a bunch of great players together and have a great team, but we developed these players over the past three to four years and that is why this championship win is special. They believed in us and followed through,” said coach Bal Sanghera.
