It was a week of beautiful weather for “the beautiful game” at Newton Athletic Park, where Canada Soccer’s pair of Toyota National Championships tournaments were played under clear skies from Oct. 5 to 10.
The boys and girls U17 club nationals saw two Surrey United teams rep B.C. and compete for Canadian bragging rights.
On Monday (Oct. 10), the United boys earned the bronze medal with a 2-1 win over Ontario’s Glen Shields FC, while the girls team placed fourth after losing 1-0 to the Alberta reps, Edmonton BTB Academy.
Teams from Quebec were winners of both the boys and girls U17 tournaments in Newton. Game scores are on canadasoccer.com.
To get to nationals, the two Surrey United teams won their respective provincial championships in June at Richmond’s Minoru Park.
Congratulations Boys! Bronze medal winners at the 2022 CSA Club Nationals tournament. #SurreyUnited #nationals pic.twitter.com/q6XCE8tL5u
— Surrey United Soccer Club (@SurreyUnitedSC) October 11, 2022
• RELATED: Two Surrey United teams are home for Canadian soccer championships in Newton.
Meantime, in Vaughan, Ontario, the men’s Challenge Trophy tournament saw Surrey-based BB5 United play for the national soccer club championship.
BB5 United placed fourth after losing 6-1 to Newfoundland’s Holy Cross FC team in the bronze-medal game on Monday. Boris Si scored the lone goal for the Surrey squad, which in May won a second Provincial A Cup championship in recent years.
In August 2020 Central City Breakers (CCB) became BB5 United, the logo of which features a single star representing the club’s very first Challenge Trophy win at the 2019 Toyota National Championships in St. John’s. The team name honours Brandon Bassi, a player killed in a single-vehicle crash in Newton the previous May, just a couple weeks after the team won the provincial title and a berth at nationals.
This marked the first Toyota National Championships since the pandemic, with the last season of winners crowned in 2019.
In Newton, Surrey FC hosted the boys and girls U17 tournaments in partnership with Sport Surrey and the City of Surrey. Twenty-one soccer teams competed, which meant an influx in Surrey of around 450 players, plus coaches, parents and officials.
Surrey FC, then known as Central City Breakers, last hosted nationals in Newton in 2017, for adult teams, and will again host the men’s (Challenge) and women’s (Jubilee) tournaments in 2024.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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