With a moniker like ‘Riot,’ this Royal City soccer squad can be counted on bringing the noise to the pitch on a weekly basis.
The under-21 women’s soccer team are showing they mean business in the Metro Women’s junior circuit, standing their ground against the competition.
“We’re doing OK,” noted coach Wayne McCarthy. “We like to use our speed as we’re a faster, younger team.”
The roster consists of mostly New Westminster Secondary graduates but includes 10 players who are eligible to be playing u-18 -- and one 16-year-old.
“We didn’t have enough girls to make a u-18 team, so we’ve brought them up.”
Last week, while they fell 1-0 to North Coquitlam United, it was a thoroughly polished performance that put the Royal City crew on an even footing with the league’s No. 2 lineup for much of the day. In a physical, back-and-forth battle between the two clubs, the lone goal came late in the first half off a lofted shot that barely tucked under the crossbar.
The Riot’s best scoring chance came off the foot of Cressen Isaac, a former NCU player, whose free kick was a tough stop for the NoCo netminder. Turning in strong games at centre back were Chantal Costa and Ravi Sidhu, while goalkeeper Manju Hoonjan played well.
A week earlier, the Riot rolled past the North Shore Synergy 5-0 with four players netting goals.
Jennifer Tamondong opened the scoring, cutting in from the left after taking a pass from Sarah McCarthy just three minutes into the contest. Gurpreet Bilan stepped hard into the game’s second goal before the 10-minute mark, launching a rocket from 30 yards out. Before the half expired, Marcie Dheilly-Sturrock upped the lead to 3-0 by converting McCarthy’s corner kick.
McCarthy, who missed much of 2014 due to ACL surgery, capped a stellar outing with two goals in the second half.
Although they are in sixth spot at 2-3, the Riot have been amazingly consistent, even against undefeated Surrey three weeks ago in a 2-0 loss.
Royal City plays host to Dasmesh United on Sunday, 6 p.m. at Queen’s Park East.
