Cheetahs, Young Guns advance to provincials

At least two Richmond teams are going to the provincial girls' soccer championships this summer.

The Richmond Cheetahs advanced to the Under-13 Silver A Division Coastal Cup final (April 27-28 in Abbotsford) with a 2-0 win over Burnaby Millenium last weekend, while the Sport Central Young Guns achieved the same feat in the Under-12 Division, edging Victoria's Gordon Head 1-0 on penalty kicks in semifinal action Sunday. Both wins automatically earn the teams berths in the provincials July 5 to 7 in Vernon.

The Cheetahs controlled their match with Burnaby from the start, keeping constant pressure on the Millenium's defence. Danielle Hurst opened the scoring 25 minutes into the game, scoring on a low, hard shot after an excellent throw-in by Paige Johnson.

Richmond had to battle both a strong wind and a determined Burnaby side in the second half. But eight minutes in, a nice thorugh pass by Alisha Hewitt sent Hurst in on a breakaway, which she again finished off with a hard low shot to the far post.

Burnaby almost got a goal back on a long range shot that keeper Jessica Solomon steered away from danger, conceding a corner kick.

"The team really wanted to win and everybody contributed to achieve our goals," coach Ricardo Solomon said. "Going to the Coastal final and the provincials is going to be a memorable experience. It's fantastic."

Keeper Moni Vataiki stopped three penalty kicks and her Richmond teammates scored four times in the Young Guns' 1-0 win over Gordon Head.

The victory enabled the Young Guns to remain undefeated this season.

Vataiki was strong throughout the game turning away many good scoring chances by Gordon Head, including in overtime.

Blustery weather hampered the Young Guns' usual creativity, but second efforts gave them the win.

Swimmer gets varsity honour

Richmond's Brian Johns is the Canada West male university athlete of the year.

The second-year University of B.C. swimmer has also been nominated for the Howard Mackie Award as Canadian male university athlete of the year.

Last February, Johns, 19, became the first swimmer in university athletics history to win seven gold medals at the nationals. En route to UBC's fifth conseuctive national championship, the human kinetics student broke Alex Baumann's 15-year-old record in the 400-metre individual medley and Curtis Myden's mark in the 200-metre individual medley. All told, Johns broke, or was part of a relay that broke, five UBC records, four university records and three national records.

At the Canada West championship in January, the Sydney Olympian won seven gold medals and set four conference records.

Johns is also enjoying an outstanding year on the international scene. Most recently, he broke Myden's Canadian record in the 400-metre individual medley and the world short course championships in Moscow, Russia, and won a silver medal in the process. Earlier this season he won gold in both the 200- and 400-metre individual medley, in qualifying for the Commonwealth Games.

Storm silence Rage

A Storm swept through Hugh Boyd Park on Saturday abruptly ending the Richmond Rage's soccer season.

The Abbotsford Storm used a strong wind to their advantage in the opening half, but failed to convert two good scoring chances and instead needed a golden goal for a 1-0 victory in the Under-13 boys' Gold Division Coastal Cup quarter-finals.

The overtime tally came just as it appeared the teams were heading to a shootout. A loose through ball combined with a communication breakdown led to the winning goal.

Richmond keeper Andrew Kowan stopped a partial breakaway during the first half, while forwards Damien Silva and Mojib Emami did a good job of pressing the Storm defence denying them time to set up through balls.

Graeme Martin-Muir moved up from the backline in the second half and whistled an angled volley from the left side that beat the Storm keeper but bounced off the crossbar.

Ruggers undefeated in Mainland

The Richmond Rugby Club's Under-16 side followed up its North American Cup victory two weeks ago with a 34-10 win over Langley on Sunday.

The win improved the local team's record to 6-0, tops in the B.C. Mainland league.

The game was played under poor conditions, with freezing rain and a strong wind making the field extremely slippery. But Richmond was able to overcome the obstacles.

Ten minutes into the match, centre Spencer Johnson scored a try to open the scoring and Richmond gradually continued to wear down Langley as Julian Hockley, Martin Urbanowicz and captain Aneil Dhaliwal all scored tries before the half, with a pair of converts by Chase Mullins putting Richmond up 24-0.

John Findlay scored two tries to match Langley's output in the second half.

Richmond also got strong efforts from Mike Livingston, Thomas Delecki and Tanner Mason, while backs Robbie Slater and Michael Bennett also impressed.

The win sets up a battle of two undefeated teams this weekend as Richmond plays at Surrey.

q HOCKEY: Two Richmond boys have been selected to the Greater Vancouver Under-17 hockey team.

Tyler Muis and Scott Dineen, both 15, were among some 60 players who attended the B.C. Best Ever district camp last weekend at Langley. Twenty players, most drafted by Western Hockey League teams, were selected to the final team which competes in a six-team provincial competition (teams representing different regions of the province) May 2 to 5 in Kitimat. From there, 46 players are selected to attend B.C.'s Under-17 provincial development camp in Osoyoos July 20 to 25, from which 20 players are chosen to form Team B.C. to compete at the 2003 Canada Winter Games.

SOCCER

Regular-season champion Shamrock Rovers look for another award season this weekend when they face the Clippers for the Richmond Senior Soccer League's Challenge Cup.

The Rovers reached the title game with a 3-2 victory over the All-Blacks, while the Clippers surprised Richmond Town 4-0 Sunday.

The Steelers and RJS Landscaping meet for the President's Cup, symbolic of supremacy among the First and Second Division teams. The Steelers shut out Flying Beaver 4-0 and RJS Landscaping edged Fairview Auto 2-1 in last Sunday's semifinals.

Giants, T-Birds share Atom Division crown

The Seafair Giants and Vancouver Thunderbirds are going to share this season's Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association President's League Atom C championship after playing to a 2-2 overtime tie in Sunday's playoff final.

Jeremy Hamaguchi scored both Giants' goals in the close-checking game, including the equalizer with 2:41 to play in the third period. Seafair also got strong efforts in the game from goaltender Douglas Birks and defenceman Alex Gold, while Sam Chickak, Mathieu Jang, John Avery, Brian Harasyn, Andrew Mansfield, Steven Robson, Kyle Shackles, Ryan Stokes, Kyle Campbell, Daniel Hunt and Alex White were also instrumental in the Giants' success.