It was a near podium finish for the McMath Wildcats at the B.C. AA Boys Soccer Championships in Burnaby.
The Wildcats met the John Oliver Jokers in the bronze medal game, a rematch of a Lower Mainland playoff game held two weeks earlier and won by McMath 3-1. This time, the teams were deadlocked at 2-2 at the end of regulation time and the Vancouver school prevailed in a penalty shootout.
Nishaan Dulay and Matt Loveland had scored the earlier goals for the Wildcats.
“It was a very disappointing loss,” said head coach Mike Quinn. “Overall though, a good season from a team that was depleted at times through injuries and lost some really good players before the season and along the way.”
The Wildcats opened the tournament by winning their pool group to advance to the semi-finals.
They opened with a 6-1 rump of Courtenay’s Mark Isfeld. Santiago Carvalheiro-Nunes led the way with a hat trick. Jayden Jordan, Logan Hooper and Jamieson Lee also scored.
A goal by Liam Fitzmaurice then gave McMath a 1-0 win over the Alpha Aztecs from Burnaby.
The boys then closed out preliminary play with a 3-1 defeat to Duchess Park of Prince George. Loveland had the lone goal.
The result left the Widlcats tied with Alpha for top spot in the group but they advanced based on the head-to-head result.
The championship run would end with 5-0 defeat to eventual champion Okanagan Mission. The Kelowna school simply overpowered the locals with a dominating performance.
It turned out to be only McMath’s second loss in regulation time this season. Along the way, the Steveston school was crowned Richmond and Lower Mainland champions. Captain Ian Gee was selected to the Commissioner’s XVI Team.
