The Burnsview Griffins came away from the B.C. Senior AA Girls High School Soccer Championships in Courteny with one thought in mind – "it's just not meant to be."
The North Delta school was near perfect at the 16-team tournament, winning four consecutive games to get the final on June 1. But after dominating play for much of the contest, the Griffins fell 2-1 to the Archbishop Carney Stars, and had to settle for second place.
The Stars seemed to get all the breaks during the three-day tournament. They won just one game in the round robin portion of the competition, but also had a pair of ties which lifted them to top spot and a berth in the four-team championship playoff.
Burnsview had no trouble finishing atop their group, winning three games by a combined 8-1 score. They then topped the L.V. Rogers Bombers 3-1 in a semifinal game, while the Stars edged Nanaimo District 1-0.
And after Archbishop Carney took a 1-0 lead in the first half, the Griffins dominated the final 90 minutes. Burnsview scored once, but the Stars also scored on their only shot of the second half, and hung on for the victory.
Saying her team "did everything right this year," Griffins coach Mary Ferguson said the second place finish was just bad luck.
"We dominated the second half with shot after shot and somehow the ball stayed out of the net," she said. "It was Carney's year. To get to the final match with two ties, and to be outshot and having to defend for the majority of the second half and still win...well, it was their time."
Emma Leese with three goals and Bria DeNunzio with two were the leading scorers for Burnsview. Netting one goal each were Myranda Willis, Dana Solari, Kylee Walker, Olivia Kapelli, Kelsey Kovich, Liz DeSouza and Courtney Badali.
- The Fleetwood Park Dragons placed 10th at the Senior AAA tournament in North Vancouver, after three wins and two losses in five games. Lorissa Houle was named to the Commissioner's 16 all-star team.
A very young team was led by a group of senior players that included Tamiya Kabatoff, Reeghan Carroll, Sam Savoy, Preety Dhillon, Priya Purewal and Simran Bir.