The Burnaby North Vikings are right where they want to be, and ready to play like they can.
As hosts of the B.C. High School AAA senior girls soccer championships, the Vikings knew all along this was how their season would go – starting Wednesday with a pair of games against tough competitors.
What’s still to be determined is where they end up and how they celebrate.
Burnaby North head coach Deborah Peters feels that while her squad may have had a pre-
determined destiny when it came to playing at the provincials, they also are good enough to be there as challengers.
“We did finish first in our league and third in the zone, so we have a bit of clout,” said Peters. “We won’t be a pushover.”
They’ve been preparing for this for more than a few months, and as hosts they won’t have the ability to tune out the usual distractions so easily. Peters is concerned some of her players will try to run back to school between their opening games today (Wednesday – 11 a.m. against Robert McMath, and 2:45 p.m. against Clayton Heights).
She isn’t too worried about how prepared they are once the whistle blows.
“This team, minus the Grade 8s and 9s, were in the provincials two years ago in Victoria,” Peters said. “We finished last, but we had some tough injuries and a couple of (High Performance League player) issues.”
This year, the club has one HPL player who has been advised by her Mountain United FC coach that she would not start that team’s next game if she misses her scheduled practice. Another player is battling mononucluosis.
While their last game was nearly three weeks ago when they fell 3-1 to zone champion Handsworth, Peters is pleased with the makeup of this year’s squad, which includes four players from Grade 8 and 9, a handful of Grade 10s as well as a core group of seniors.
“The girls are very supportive of each other, they get along real well,” she said. “When you have such an age gap sometimes there’s divisions, but there is no hierarchy with this team.”
In the opening round, which concludes Thursday with a match against Centennial (9 a.m.), McMath is the only opponent they’ve previously faced. At the season-opening UBC tourney, the Richmond school eked out a 1-0 win over the Vikings.
In their most recent game, a zone playoff match against Handsworth, Burnaby held a 1-0 lead at half before injuries and a short bench created an opening that the North Shore team took advantage of in a 3-1 decision.
Although they are slotted in a tough pool, Peters believes they can advance to the next round if they play as they’ve shown during the season.
“I would say my hope is top-8 (finish), but the girls, funny enough, are saying the top-12, just so they finish higher than the (Burnaby North senior) boys did,” said Peters, who coached the boys last fall.
“We’re good enough to be here.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: The article was written prior to the start of the tournament. Burnaby North opened the tourney by tying Robert McMath and Clayton Heights 1-1 on Wednesday. To follow the tourney results, go to www.aaagirlssoccer2017.tk
