The Burnaby Selects won two of three B.C. Soccer Provincial A Cup finals.
The under-13 Selects won their first A Cup title, eking out a 1-0 victory over Lower Mainland rival Surrey Guildford United at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex-West on Sunday.
The u-15 Selects tasted gold for a third consecutive time, coming back from a one-goal deficit to eventually win 3-2 in a shootout over Surrey FC Pegasus.
The u-16 Selects had to settle for the silver medal following a 3-1 defeat to Surrey Guildford also at Burnaby Lake-West.
The u-13’s got on the board early, scoring in the opening minute from Justin Petkovic, who took a through ball from Richard Culleton and put it through the goalkeepers legs from six yards out for what stood up as the cup-winner.
The win came as a measure of revenge for Burnaby, which lost to the Surrey side in a shootout in the Coastal Cup early this season.
“I was happy we beat them in the provincials,” said Petkovic.
U-13 coach Scott Stefanek said playing at home was a big factor in the team’s preparation for the big game.
“All these things we couldn’t do at the Coastal Cup,” said Stefanek. “The boys came together at the right time.”
Nicolas Sanchez also made his presence felt at the right time for the u-15’s.
Sanchez scored both goals for the Selects, tying the match on two separate occasions, including a late second-period scramble that sent the game into extra time.
His first tied the game 1-1 midway through the second half. The extra time was scoreless.
Sanchez also scored team’s fourth goal in the shootout that went Burnaby’s way 5-3.
Devon Sandhu scored the cup-clincher for Burnaby, while keeper Jason Negus got a left hand on a shot from the spot to earn the win.
The u-15’s finished second in the Metro league to Surrey Pegasus and while qualifying for the provincials were left out of this year’s Coastal Cup.
The Selects more than made up for it at the provincials.
Burnaby won its group without a goal scored against, including a tight 1-0 win over Peg earlier in the competition.
“This year, the history started. (Surrey Pegasus and us) play the game quite hard, very similarly,” said Burnaby assistant coach Mario Montagliani. “We’re two good teams. It could have gone either way. Our impact players showed up.”
What was perhaps more gratifying than winning a third straight Provincial A Cup title was how they did it, Montagliani added.
“We lost 10 players to the high performance league in the last 12 months and we still managed to get back here. That’s the most satisfying.”
The u-16 Selects were disappointed following their match against Surrey.
Daniel Johnson scored first, taking a through ball in the clear and beating the Surrey keeper with a well-directed touch.
But Guildford took the lead with a pair of goals in the second half, before icing the win with a third tally late in the period.
The Burnaby Selects also fielded a Metro league girls’ team in the u-16 division at the A Cup.
The Coastal Cup champions failed to make it through to the gold-medal round but wound up with a bronze medal afer finishing group play with a 1-2-0 record.
