If there was a vote for Most Valuable Hyack soccer player at New Westminster Secondary School, Nisa Reehal would be a big name on the ballot.
Her absence Tuesday from the Burnaby-New West district senior girls soccer final underscored just how valuable she is. And just like Tuesday night’s cliffhanger provincial election results, the playoff final unravelled like few predicted.
The Burnaby North Vikings captured the league’s No. 1 seed for the upcoming provincial playdowns, beating New West 3-1 at Mercer Stadium.
Missing a dynamic player like Reehal, a Grade 10 forward, to a nagging injury and without their starting goalkeeper, the regular season champion
Hyacks were unable to keep pace with the Vikings, who are guaranteed a berth to the B.C. tournament, May 31 to June 2, as hosts.
“(Burnaby) North was the better team in the first half, and we were better in the second, but we just didn’t have enough to finish it,” remarked New West coach Wayne McCarthy.
In a season where only three of nine schools fielded teams and a handful of games were decided by forfeits due to lack of players, the final turned on a couple of well-struck shots by Burnaby North’s Michaela Filippelli in the first half. She opened the scoring before the game was 10 minutes old by finishing off a well-played corner kick.
New West’s Christine Singh tied it three minutes later on an impressive blast to the top corner from a tight
angle. But Filippelli restored the lead by capitalizing on a broken play. Wrapping up the scoring was the Vikings Kaylee Malli, late in the first half.
New West, as the district’s No. 2 seed, will play the North Van league champion next Monday.
