Burnaby North experienced the heartache of the tiebreak at the B.C. high school AAA girls' soccer championships in East Vancouver last week.
The No. 2 zone seed finished in 13th place to end the three-day provincial tournament, but not before a disappointing turn of events that toppled the North team from a potential first-place finish in the pools to playing in the bottom quadrant in the placement rounds.
After a 2-1 loss to Centennial and a 3-2 victory over Heritage Woods on the opening day of the competition on May 29, North was edged 1-0 by eventual pool winner Oak Bay on a goal in the final minute of the match.
The result left the Vikings in a three-way tie with the two Tri-Cities schools and was decided on a head-to-head format between those three teams.
"We might have been sad, but we wanted to end our season well," said Grade 9 central midfielder Megan Lai, one of seven juvenile-aged players on the youthful North team. "So we just tried and gave it our best."
That best included a 3-2 victory over Lake City on a goal by Lai and two others from Allyson Dickson in the crossover game on Friday.
Dickson scored a hat trick against Mt. Baker in the final placement game on Saturday, bringing to seven the number of goals the nifty Grade 11 middie scored in the tournament.
Twin sister Christina Dickson, Lai, Ashley Bristow and Amber Gilmore also scored in the team's final game.
Jessica Filippelli was named to the Commissioner's XI.
With the bulk of the team expected back again next season, North is in a position to make another solid run at the provincials, said Lai.
"That's the plan. Hopefully first, we have high hopes," she said.
Oak Bay went on to win the bronze medal, nipping Panorama Ridge 1-0 in the consolation match.
Fleetwood Park was the class of the tourney, blanking South Delta 3-0 in the gold-medal final.
