You could almost hear the chorus of "We are the champions" as the U14 girls' Scorpions came off the field after a 1-1 draw with the Burnaby Blast last weekend.
The Scorpions played a wonderful game. The first half was a great display of speed, energy and tic-tac-toe passing that had the Blast wishing they were on the ferry heading home.
Kim Doerksen sped down the left wing and beat the Blast defender and fired a low ball across the goal. Jenna Scott came in from the right and neatly passed the ball into the net, just like you do in practice. Burnaby was lucky to emerge from the first half only one down.
The second half was very much in the Scorpions favour, but with no goals.
The Blast were playing a kick-and-run game - with their skill I don't know why they would do this. They broke through the Scorpions' tight defence twice, misfired once, and hit the net after a bit of confusion between Scorpions goalkeeper and the defense.
Two minutes to go and a 1-1 draw and that's the way it ended.
That draw gave the Scorpions the gold division title and the opportunity to move into the League Champions Cup play.
The Scorpions are the first championship team in our current move into rep soccer. Much credit is due to coach Dave Hargreaves for setting a standard that this group of girls bought in to.
Hargreaves, supported by coaches Lexa Pomfret (conditioning), Rick Mithrush (goalkeeping) and Charly Mithrush (much drive and experience), can consider this a successful season after taking a group of novice players and turning them into a smooth playing team that has fun and commitment in just three years. Congratulations, Scorpions.
The U14 SC United boys are not far behind the Scorpions.
Coach Rick McGuire has his team playing good imaginative football and it showed in their game against Richmond United.
Our lads played a fast, smooth passing game against Richmond with a 4-3 win that kept them in the upper level of their gold division. Keyed by midfielder Evan Murphy's best game since he joined the team, the forwards were able do their thing. Andrew Kraus hit for two, one on a fined header, Julian Cantarutti nailed a penalty spot shot, and Kerry-Patrick Hlatky broke away from the Richmond defence to provide the margin.
The U14 Celtic boys played the ever-tough ICSF Roma at Hastings Bowl and turned in a good effort.
Roma struck first and it appeared Celtic had evened the score when Eli Paradis' perfect freekick left the Roma goalie flat-footed, but the goal was called back.
Celtic forward Alex Pluschke tied the score with a well-taken goal a little later. Captain and centreback Brenden Darwin showed true leadership in earning the coveted original Celtic jersey as player of the game. Roma had the finishing, however, and sent our boys home with a 3-1 defeat.
Those East Hastings teams have always been high quality, but only experience saved Roma this time. The U16 boys Strikers played the McDaddys, a team they hammered 9-3 on Dec. 6.
This time the McDaddys were determined, and some of the Strikers were disinterested. The halftime score was 2-2 after Russell Thornstienson had finished off Key Neu's pass and Liam Wong had confidently found the net with a shot along the ground from close in to the goal.
The second half was embarrassing. My informants tell me that some of the forwards and midfielders hung the defence out to dry as they dogged getting back to assist. Although Jeremy Izad scored a third goal, McDaddys scored two and Strikers went down 4-3. The U12 girls Stingrays met the North Van Devils and were given a lesson as they went down 6-0.
The U12 boys Storm played Douglas Park Red Devils and had their best game of the season.
An early goal by the Red Devils spurred the Storm as Jonah Lussier struck first. Then Patrick Ellison finished off a well-placed freekick by Kelsey Dixon.
Red Devils struck for three in succession, but the Storm came back as Stashan Coady drove one in from the penalty spot. The Storm were pressuring for the equalizer but time ran out.
The coaches were wearing smiles after seeing the effort and quality of play displayed by Storm players.
