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Having surrendered a late tying goal in regulation time, the Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils never gave up on their quest to secure a first-ever sa国际传媒 triple-A senior girl鈥檚 soccer title.
Which doesn鈥檛 surprise coach Alfonso Napoletano one bit.
Forced into extra-time, the Blue Devils used a brilliant strike off a free-kick by the tournament鈥檚 most valuable player, Andrea Perrotta, just before the end of the first seven-minute extra-time half to tame defending champion Fleetwood Park Dragons 2-1 on Saturday at the University of Victoria.
鈥淎ll year we鈥檝e been talking about this,鈥� he said, pointing to his inner arm where the word 鈥渄esire鈥� was written in pen.
鈥淭hey just never gave up. Usually, when you give up a late goal like that it鈥檚 tough to fight back. But instead of putting our heads down we just look at the message on our arms [which the entire team carried],鈥� said Napoletano, who led the Charles Best girls to their first provincial title, just as he did with the boys in 2009.
Kathryn Harvey had spotted the Blue Devils to a 1-0 first-half lead, but it was tied late.
Perrotta then stepped up to deliver the winning strike.
鈥淚 knew what corner I wanted, I just put my head down and hit it,鈥� said the elated Grade 12 student, who found the bottom left of the goal.
鈥淥h my gosh, this is the best feeling ever.鈥�
In the bronze-medal game, Montpreet Heer scored her second goal of the game to give Panorama Ridge a 2-1 victory over Elgin Park.
Heer, the golden boot trophy winner (for most goals, with seven), made a strong turn and buried the winner just minutes from the end. 鈥淥ak Bay did it to us last year so it was nice to be on the other end,鈥� Thunder coach Kenneth Headley said, recalling last year鈥檚 bronze-medal loss to the Breakers.
鈥淚t was hard,鈥� he said of bouncing back from a 1-0 loss to Fleetwood Park in the semifinal on Friday afternoon.
鈥淭he banquet [Friday night] was top notch. The girls had a chance to relax, had fun and it raised their spirits a little bit.鈥�
The host, Stelly鈥檚 Stingers, lost 1-0 to McMath in the fifth-place game on Saturday and Argyle edged Island-champion Oak Bay 1-0 in penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation time for seventh place.
The Reynolds Roadrunners defeated Sir Winston Churchill 2-1 for 13th place and Burnaby North won the fair play award.
