Poise, lofty goals put shine on title
Coquitlam’s Centaurs earn gold in provincial Triple-A finals with late overtime goal
Danae Robillard’s power of suggestion apparently packs a punch. The Centennial Centaurs won the Triple-A girls soccer provincial title last week, beating Surrey’s Fleetwood Park Dragons 1-0 in overtime at UBC in the title match. The Coquitlam-based Centaurs finished third at last year’s tournament, and team captain Robillard told coach Larry Moro upon receiving the bronze medals then: “I want a better colour next year.”
“To be completely honest, that’s when I thought this was possible,” Moro said of the championship win, the second of his Centennial soccer stint and the first since his rookie year at the helm in 2000.
“In my whole career, I had never stated that we were going for gold, but then she stated it and I thought we should just put it out there. In our first meeting, before our tryouts, we brought it up. It wasn’t the usual thing about looking to make it to the provincials. We weren’t shy about it. We wanted a shinier medal.”
Sophia Ferreira scored the winner with three minutes to go in overtime, beating Fleetwood Park goalkeeper Soninka Nandha from in tight after taking a feed from Raegan Mackenzie.
Ferreira’s a Grade 9, Mackenzie a Grade 10. Sixteen of Centennial’s 22 players are eligible to return next season. There are only two Grade 11s in that group, too.
Among the players graduating is Robillard, who will be part of the incoming freshman class with the SFU Clan next season. The Centaurs are benefactors of strong club programs in the area, Moro was quick to admit. The majority are with Coquitlam Metro-Ford, he said.
“It’s an extremely talented group and one that worked hard and played hard for each other,” Moro said. “It’s the deepest team that we’ve had in my time here.”
Moro received calls and text messages from various former players, congratulating him on capturing the title. Centennial has made it to the B.C.’s 16 of his 19 years at the helm, and never finished outside the top 10 in its trips to the tournament.
“To be honest, it’s been a bit overwhelming and humbling,” Moro said of hearing from past players. “I had a vision of what I wanted this to be when I started here and it’s happened.”
Fleetwood Park was playing in its fifth straight Triple-A provincial finale. It lost last year to cross-town rival Panorama Ridge 2-1 in penalty kicks at Burnaby Lake.
“To go to five provincial championship games in a row really speaks to how good a coach Sunny Uppal is,” Moro said of the Fleetwood Park bench boss. “They played to their strengths. They defended, they closed people down. They executed their game plan.”
Victoria’s St. Michaels University School won the Double-A crown in Kamloops, beating West Vancouver’s Collingwood 1-0 in penalty kicks.