The Squamish-based B&B Excavating soccer club came up a little short in its quest to repeat as men's open champions at the annual Soccerfest event.
They dominated round-robin play on Saturday and Sunday (April 20 and 21), outscoring the opposition 22-0, and then defeated Shaheen 1-0 in the semifinal.
But the club then ran into newcomer Athletico, who scored early and held on for the narrow 1-0 win.
It was a little chippy out there but it was some great competition during the whole tournament, said Edis Besic, who scored the game's lone goal. It was a lot of fun to get together with the guys for one more time this year.
Besic said the team was made up of several players who play with Sarajevo FC in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL). Sarajevo placed first in the 2A division and will move up to the first division next season. He said Soccerfest is growing in popularity within the local soccer community.
We actually heard about the tournament from another team in our league Shaheen, he said. They've been coming for a few years and told us it was a fun time and was good competition. We didn't really know what to expect but we were treated well and it was a lot of fun. We will definitely be back to defend our championship next year.
B&B head coach Ninder Bir said it was disappointing to lose, especially considering that his team controlled the majority of the play and had some great chances to score. He pointed out it was the third straight year B&B had advanced to the Soccerfest finals but it does end the season on a bit of a sour note for the back-to-back Howe Sound Men's Soccer League (HSMSL) champions.
Over on the women's side, Quest University who repeated as women's open champions. Quest went undefeated throughout the tournament and clinched the crown with a 7-0 win over Bombastic in the final on Sunday. The 2012 Pacwest bronze medal winners have now won four out of the last five women's open titles.
The other top showing from a local team was the 麻豆社国产Breakers, who lost in the finals of the women's 30-plus recreational division to Wickham 1-0. The goal by Wickham was the only goal the Breakers allowed all weekend, as a strong combination of defence and goaltending helped them to second place.
Other division winners included: Pronto (men's over 30), Coasters (men's over 40), Magical Thunder (women's open recreational) and the Norsea Lomas (women's over 30).
麻豆社国产Soccer Association (SSA) representative Lana Nielsen said the 33rd annual Soccerfest was another successful weekend.
I think it went really well, she said. We didn't have any conflicts or major issues and we had a big turnout for the teams, especially on the women's side.
Nielsen said a total of 78 teams participated in the tournament, making it the biggest turnout ever. A record 42 women's teams hit the pitch, along with 36 men's teams. She said the addition of the turf field meant more spots, and teams raved about the quality of the field.
We had huge compliments on the turf field, she said. It's a really turning point for us as an organization to have that field and it makes Soccerfest that much better.
She added that Soccerfest may look into some sort of signage to direct players to the turf field for next year as some teams were initially puzzled about the field's location.
Despite the weather not being the best, I think teams had a good time and we really had no issues, she said. It was a good weekend for us, good and busy.
For more information on the SSA, visit www.squamishsoccerassociation.com.
