A sixth place finish doesn't do justice of just how close the South Delta Sun Devils came to taking a serious run at their second ever provincial girls soccer championship.
The Sun Devils went unbeaten in round-robin play but saw their title hopes dashed by a somewhat controversial format that puts more emphasis on preliminary games than any other provincial high school sport.
South Delta opened with an impressive 4-0 win over Churchill, then slipped past Mt. Baker 1-0 before battling pre-tournament favourite Argyle Pipers to a 1-1 draw. That left the Sun Devils and Argyle tied atop of their group with 2-0-1 records but the North Shore school advanced to the semi-finals with a better goal differential.
The Pipers went on to win the championship while South Delta could finish no better than fifth. The locals defeated Stelly's 1-0, then dropped a 3-2 decision to Kelowna with a shorthanded line-up on Saturday.
With Fraser Valley champion Terry Fox also edged out of a semi-final berth after going unbeaten, the tournament draw will once again be re-examined before next year's event. A quarter-final playoff round is apparently out of the question due to time constraints, however, penalty kicks maybe added.
"It would nice to at least have a clear winner of those games and it would take no more than five extra minutes," said Sun Devils head coach Stephen Burns. "Looking back, we actually beat ourselves in the Mt. Baker game. Argyle handled them easily (5-0) and we just came out a little flat after playing so well against Churchill. Another goal would have been enough to put us through.
"Still, it was an outstanding tournament for the girls and Brent (Sweeney) and I are really proud of them. That's the sixth time in 12 years the first place team from our group has gone on to win the championship."
The Sun Devils at least went into the Argyle game knowing they needed a result. They were on the verge of handing the Pipers their first loss of the season before surrendering the tying goal with just four minutes remaining.
South Delta played what Burns described as its "best game of the season" to beat Stelly's before having a wide edge in territorial play against Kelowna but not getting the result.
The Sun Devils lose just one player to graduation and are deep in young talent. This year's roster featured five Grade 9s and even three Grade 8s were called-up for the championships.
