The McMath Wildcats return to familiar territory next week when they head to Burnaby for the B.C. Boys AAA Soccer Championships.
After a one-year hiatus, the Wildcats are back in the top tier for B.C.’s largest schools and promptly nailed down a provincial berth by finishing second in the Lower Mainland AAA playdowns.
Second half goals from Jamieson Lee and Matt Loveland gave McMath a 2-0 win over Lord Byng back on Nov. 3 at Minoru Park. The hosts carried much of the territorial and were finally rewarded over the final 40 minutes.
With a spot in the provincials locked up, McMath headed to Vancouver last week to take on St. George’s in the Mainland final. The city private school broke a 1-1 deadlock with three unanswered goals in the second half to produce a 4-1 victory. Logan Hooper had the lone McMath goal.
It was the boys’ first loss of the season in 10 games (9-1-0) after earlier going perfect in Richmond play.
“We (answered) an early St. George’s goal, came close to scoring again at 1-1 and easily could have gone ahead,” said McMath coach Mike Quinn. “They scored two late goals when we were pushing for the equalizer. I feel confident going into provincials.”
The Wildcats were fourth at the “AA” provincials a year ago. The championships run from Nov. 24-26.
Meanwhile, Lower Mainland “AA” champions Richmond Colts will be in action earlier in the week when the B.C. “AA” tourney goes from Nov. 21-23. That tournament will also take place in Burnaby. The McRoberts Strikers finished third in the Mainland “AA” playdowns after a 1-0 victory over Britannia.
