The Burnaby Selects kicked off the club's 10th anniversary season with two more Coastal A Cup triumphs.
The regular-season under-16 champion Selects opened the two-day B.C. Soccer coastal region championships with a 3-0 victory over the league runner-up Central City Breakers Pegasus in the boys' A cup final at Minoru Oval in Richmond on Saturday.
The Metro division club then backed that up with a program-best sixth A Cup in nine separate appearances since the Selects organized in 2002.
Burnaby's u-18 Selects Royals outlasted Richmond United 3-2 in the final weekend match at the Coastal A finals in Richmond.
The u-16 Burnaby side, which had beaten the Surrey side twice before in league play, were tentative at first against the Breakers' physical marking. But the Selects finally got into a rhythm midway through the first half when Joel Padmore, Edris Najm and Kuroush Faritous showed some of their skill, teaming up for a dangerous chance on goal.
Minutes later, Gurtej Hehar and Sean Lam, with a cross in front, gave Najm another strike on net. From then on, it appeared the momentum had clearly shifted in Burnaby's favour.
The Selects were finally rewarded in the final seconds of the first period, when Padmore took a great through ball from Najm and slotted a low drive inside the far post for the eventual game-winning goal.
In the second half, Lam made it 2-0 with a thundering left footer after Hehar set up the speedy forward with some good work in the midfield.
Padmore added to the score with his second goal of the game on a second-chance strike following a neat flip pass from Max Williams that was initially saved.
Keeper Trevor Hughes got the shutout in goal for Burnaby with the help of a goal post after the Breakers were given a penalty shot late in the game.
"We knew (the Breakers) were going to come out fired up. We knew that. But we didn't start to play our game until the second half," said Burnaby captain Glen Zheng, who despite the shutout result, was not satisfied the team's play.
"If we had capitalized on all our chances, we should have been able to finish it off in the first half."
Selects coach Zico Najm added the three-forward up front system had been working very well all year.
"This is our game," he said. "We wear teams down and then we keep possession - chase, chase, chase - it's been our game all year."
In the u-18 final, Burnaby had to come back twice in the game before Daniel Hurmer buried a deflection off a free kick from 25 yards out in the back of the Richmond net.
Chris Donaldson tied the score 11 in the opening period on a solo run down the left side after Richmond scored first on a defensive miscue.
Richmond went ahead again, but Burnaby again equalized on a Hurmer corner.
Justin Dhaliwal knotted the score in the second half with a solid finish after the corner kick was tipped on to him by Donaldson.
Dhaliwal had another chance to score on a break, but the Richmond keeper stymied the opportunity, handling the ball outside the box and was subsequently red carded.
"It was a real tough fought game," said coach Frank Palmieri, who had some complimentary words to say about the community support his club has received through the years.
"For a small community like Burnaby the Selects have achieved tremendous results. You got to be proud of the people in Burnaby. The supporting clubs have done a tremendous job developing the kids coming up, and we're hoping to do that with the girls."
The Selects will put three teams in three separate divisions, including at under-14, in the upcoming provincial club championships in July.
