South Delta Sun Devils are within a win of their first provincial tournament berth in eight years and it has taken a United Nations’ effort to help get them there.
The senior boys soccer team has advanced to the semi-finals of the South Fraser AAA Playoffs after a 3-0 win over the North Surrey Spartans on Tuesday afternoon at Winskill Park. They now have two cracks at locking down a spot at the B.C. showcase tourney in Burnaby, starting with Monday’s final four encounter against Fleetwood Park in a match-up of the province’s 10th and sixth ranked teams respectively. A win would send them to the title game on Nov. 7 in Newton, while a loss would mean a do-or-die consolation game 24 hours later.
It’s been a tough go for South Delta in recent years, due mainly to a very deep zone loaded with strong Surrey schools. However, a solid group of mainly Grade 12s have been complimented by a strong contingent of international students with typically four in the starting line-up. The seven exchange students include two Italians, two Germans, two Japanese and a Brazilian.
It didn’t take long during tryouts back in early September for long-time coaches Stephen Burns and Brent Sweeney to realize this team might be capable of doing something special. The Sun Devils proceeded to win a tournament in Kamloops then finish second in their league behind top ranked Panorama Ridge.
“In the past we have typically had two or three international kids. But not like this with this level of skill,” said Sweeney. “Once we realized what we had, we told them we had a legitimate chance of going to the provincials.”
“What has also helped is all our Grade 12s have been with us since Grade 10,” added Burns. “They got to play against better and stronger teams. They have gone through the battles and understand the challenge that is in front of them.”
The 11th seed Spartans came into Tuesday’s tilt off an upset win the previous day against Princess Margaret. The visitors had the best scoring chances of the opening half, including a penalty kick that required a terrific diving stop by goalkeeper Simon Raderecht.
South Delta took over in the second half with Jason Crump scoring what proved to be the game winner. International students Lorenzo Auro and David Seppik added insurance tallies.
Burns had high praise for Constatin Von Borries, describing the German as one of the best holding centre midfielders he has seen at the high school level in his many years of coaching.
“This is also just a really good group of kids and we are having a lot of fun coaching them,” added Burns.
