Richmond Wizards culminated their season in style by capturing their B.C. Coastal Girls Soccer U18 League Cup group with a resounding 3-0 victory over the Coquitlam Metro Ford Crush last Sunday at Hugh Boyd.
In a replay of the 2015 final, Hannah Coo and Kristen Sequeira gave the hosts a 2-0 halftime lead. Playing with the wind at their backs in the second half, in-form striker Amez Rasoul netted the third in the final 45 minutes to put the game out of reach.
After opening round-robin play with a 3-3 draw against Langley and eventually losing in penalty kicks, Richmond was flawless defensively the rest of the way. The girls did not allow a goal over their final six league cup matches, while scoring 13.
The success of the team has been a predominantly down to Mackenzie Hughes’ tremendous game-saving efforts in goal. There was also tremendous defensive work in front of her from Reneet Dhillon, Maia Badyal, Lindsay Kolb, Anisha Johal, Natasha Sandhu, Jessica Chang, and Kristal Himantog. The tireless efforts of midfielders Christine Fwu, Xiana Salvatore Allison, Harmen Patara, Lakiesha Harris, Jade Balogh-Callow, Steph Katz and Coo played a huge part in the success too. Forwards Talia Chasidof, Saarah Rasheed, Rasoul and Sequeira were constantly a handful for their opponents.
The girls are coached by Nav Badyal and Howard Chen. Both are so proud at how the girls closed out their youth soccer careers with a flourish after wins were so hard to come by as recently as two years ago.
