It was a script all too familiar to the McMath Wildcats and their supporters at the B.C. AAA Girls Soccer Championships.
For the third straight year, the Wildcats did not lose in regulation time over five games. They were also kept out of medal contention as well.
The 16-team tournament in Tsawwassen proved to be another frustrating one for a talented McMath group that twice dropped games in penalty kicks to settle for sixth place.
The Wildcats found themselves in the exact same scenario as the past two seasons — needing to win their final round-robin game to clinch a semi-final berth. They dominated the Handsworth Royals in the early going, creating a couple of premium scoring chances and having one goal called back for offside.
The North Shore school came out of the early onslaught unscathed and began to take the territorial play the other way. After 70 minutes of playing time couldn’t produce a goal, the teams headed to a penalty kick shootout with the Royals prevailing 4-3.
McMath rebounded with a win over South Kamloops, to set-up a fifth place game with Oak Bay on Saturday morning. Again penalty kicks were required and the Victoria area school handed the Wildcats their seventh straight PK loss in three years.
“We practice them all the time but what you can’t practice is pressure,” said Wildcats coach Stephen Burns. “It’s similar to a free throw in basketball where they are easy to shoot when you are not in a game situation. It’s become a mental block on our team.
“Even today (against Oak Bay) you could see it in their eyes when I told the girls there was no overtime and we would be going straight to penalty kicks.”
The Wildcats entered the provincials having rolled through league play, then producing two more dominate wins to capture the Richmond/Vancouver championship.
All the ingredients seem to be in place for the Steveston school to take a serious run at its first-ever provincial title.
An outstanding group included five seniors set to continue their careers at the university or collegiate level next season.
Even basketball standouts Jessica Jones and Jessica Zawada put on their soccer boots one final time before embarking on their university hoop careers.
The loss was especially tough for team manager Gillian Partridge who has now watched both her daughters — Emma and Hannah — come through the team and not get over that proverbial hump at provincials.
The Wildcats managed six goals in five games but four of them came against Sardis.
Burns says his team probably would be better served if it was more battle tested during the season rather than dominating the Richmond League.
He should know, having also guided the South Delta Sun Devils to 15 consecutive provincial appearances coming through the extremely competitive Fraser Valley zone.
The Sun Devils finished fourth in their league and fifth at the Valleys but had a huge tournament to earn bronze, scoring 21 goals.
“The weak schedule doesn’t help,” he added. “You have to raise your game for the better teams and when you are not consistently getting them, it plays on you.”
Burns is unsure he will return to coach next year. He stepped in back in 2014 when his daughter Ali was in Grade 10.
