It's been a long while since the Sutherland Sabres were the talk of the North Shore soccer world but this year the senior boys are making a lot of noise and they're hoping to keep up the chatter this week as they charge into the provincial AAA championships in Burnaby.
The Sabres last won a North Shore title back in 1997 and that was at the AA level. To find a AAA North Shore title on the resume you need to go back even further, and to discover a provincial championship you need to go all the way to the 1980s, long before this current crop of players was born. The history is no matter to the boys on this year's team though - they'll just be trying to make their own names as the North Shore's sole representative at the tournament.
With only three Grade 12s on his team and a whack of Grade 11s, Sutherland head coach Bill Mahon is hoping for the best at this year's tournament while keeping his eye on 2014 when most of the team will be back.
"The boys are fortunate to get through as predominantly a Grade 11 team so whatever they do this year hopefully they'll learn from it and I think we have a good shot at playing well next year too," he said. "I'm just hoping they play to potential and no one gets hurt and we'll see how we do."
The Sabres had an excellent year on the North Shore, topping perennial powerhouses Handsworth and Argyle to win the AAA regular season crown. They stumbled in the North Shore championship game, losing to the AA Sentinel Spartans, but rebounded to score a big 2-1 win over Burnaby Central in the North Shore/Burnaby/New West zone qualifiers to earn a spot at the big show.
"Burnaby is a good team. We played well, I thought we deserved to win that," said Mahon.
The Sabres actually fell behind 1-0 against Burnaby and were in danger of going down two when Grade 11 goalie Michael Girard made a huge save to keep the game within reach. Sutherland then stormed right back down the field and scored the equalizer before Adam Swanson potted the winner a few minutes later.
"If he doesn't make that key, game-changing save it would have been 2-0 for Burnaby," said Mahon. "(He's) a very good goaltender."
Girard and midfielder Cole Keffer, the captain and one of the few Grade 12s on the team, provide the backbone for the Sabres. Mahon uses a short bench - the team carries only 15 players - so he'll be counting on a little luck to get through to the playoffs.
"Because there's five games in three days, a lot of it will come down to who stays healthy," he said. Though the Sabres are young they do have a championship track record - as a junior team they won the Vancouver and District championships last season.
They'll be facing the big boys this week though, starting off with pool games against Elgin Park, Eric Hamber and Dr. Charles Best secondaries. The semifinals are scheduled for Friday afternoon with the championship game slated for 11:45 a.m. Saturday morning at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West, field No. 3. For updates schedules and results visit the tournament website.
