It’s last chance time.
The New Westminster senior girls Hyacks soccer team enters today’s (Thursday) playdown with the West Vancouver Highlanders battling for a single berth to the B.C. 3-A provincial championships, which will be played at UBC in two weeks.
The Hyacks saw their first chance at a B.C. berth slip away Monday in a 3-0 loss to the No. 1-ranked Argyle Pipers.
“Argyle held territorial advantage through most of the first half but we were unable to get shots on goal as (we) defended well,” wrote New West coach Wayne McCarthy in an email.
“(Our) keeper Alia Homenuke made a couple of easy saves from long distance but was unable to thwart the Pipers’ top striker as (she) took a pass between the centre backs and fired a low shot into the net (17 minutes into the contest).”
Down 1-0 at halftime, New West opened it up to generate offence and saw standout Grade 11 forward Nisa Reehal create three excellent chances in the first five minutes, only to be turned back. Argyle doubled its lead a few minutes later off a two-on-one break, and iced it with another tally at the 65-minute mark.
Although West Van presents a formidable challenge, rival Burnaby-New West coach Deb Peters, whose team was eliminated by the Highlanders on Monday in a 5-0 loss, feels New West has a good chance to advance.
“I think (New West) will measure up well with them,” Peters said. “It’ll be a good game. (New West) is pretty consistent across the board in terms of skills.”
Today’s game will be played 3 p.m. at Mercer Stadium.
A week ago, the Hyacks avenged a regular season loss by capturing the league banner with a 3-0 blanking of Burnaby North in the final.
Georgia Brydon converted a nice setup from Sydney Fowler late in the first half to give New West the lead. Buoyed by strong performances from defenders Emma Celle, Sarah Forgie and Maddison and Sydney Fowler, the Hyacks continued to push forward and added markers by Taylor Spong and Reehal to complete the win.
