Wildcats net high school junior boys' soccer championship

A pair of timely goals and stellar defence lifted the R.A. McMath Wildcats to the Richmond secondary schools Juvenile Division boys' soccer title Thursday.

Jordan Aharon scored on a header after a cross into the box from Cody Walley, and Brody Greig added a second goal on a penalty kick after being brought down in the 18 yard box late in the match as McMath defeated the Steveston Packers 2-1.

The game was the fourth meeting between the teams this season. All three previous games were close but Steveston's size and speed up front caused problems for McMath's defence and the Packers walked away with three wins.

"Even though we lost these matches it helped us a lot in the final game to have had three good looks at them," McMath coach Stormer Yttri said. "We were able to identify their strengths and develop a strategy to neutralize them."

McMath's game strategy did not appear to be working early though. Steveston scored in the fourth minute after some scrambly play in front of the Wildcat net.

But to their credit the Wildcats did not get rattled and settled into a hard checking, physical battle supported by the strong goalkeeping of Simon Barwin.

"It was a great first half," co-coach Jim Jacobson said. "We hit two goalposts and kept (the Packers) opportunities to a minimum. The boys came off the field believing they could win."

Brandon Yttri and Walley provided some early pressure up front for McMath, each hitting a post in the first half. The midfield of John Madazil, Karn Sharda, Brandon Jones, Brett Livingston and John Taylor created good scoring chances while neutralizing Steveston's attack. McMath's defence including Heiting Choy, Takuma Yoshida, Fraser McGregor, Connor Mounce and Kai Jacobson also stood tall.

With more than half the team being Grade 8s, McMath is hoping to repeat as champions next season as juniors.

RUGBY:

The Richmond Rugby Club's Under-19 Division side hopes to get a step closer to a provincial championship this weekend when it hosts Surrey in the Fraser Valley league final (11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sea Island).

Richmond, 7-0 in league play and 10-1 overall, was winless in the previous two years.

Richmond closed out the regular campaign with a 48-7 win over Abbotsford last weekend. Aaron Avram scored three tries to pace the local's scoring. John Findlay had two tries and Alex Brown and Ahmed Morsi one each. Jason Lee kicked four converts.

Richmond's backs led by Aneil Dhaliwal looked dangerous every time they had the ball. And forwards Brian Hobbs and Chris Bergmann also played well.

The winner of this Saturday's Valley final meets the Island champion in the B.C. semifinals next Sunday.

JUDO:

Members of the Steveston judoka won six gold medals at the Pacific invitational junior tournament Saturday in Richmond.

Lucas Girard, Ko Shinjo, Vladimir Lamontagne and Lisa Nakajima were first in their Juvenile Division weight classes and Matthew Luke and Sacha Lamontagne in their Junior Divisions.

Victoria Plonka and Elen Kuramoto bought picked up bronze medals in the Juvenile Division and Justin Imagawa in the Junior Division.

LACROSSE:

In a game filled with defensive miscues, the Richmond Roadrunners survived a last-minute drive by south Fraser to gain a 9-9 tie in Under-15 Division field lacrosse Sunday.

Matt Miyashita made a game-saving stop as time expired. Gord Cawley scored twice for Richmond.

Richmond's improving Under-11 Division team fell 7-5 to Delta, a game they trailed at one point 7-2 before Trenton Matsuzaki scored a natural hat trick. Callem Peake and Shae Partridge also scored for the locals and Taylor Vincent and newcomer Jessay Klomp also played well.

SOCCER:

Richmond United scored a 2-0 win over Tsawwassen Extreme Sunday in the first round of Inter-District Cup play in under-13 Gold Division girls' soccer.

Heavy wind and rain affected the play in the first half. As the rain slowed, United were able to pick up their game. Shanay Sangha, Jade McGregor, Justine Alder and Ariel Olsen worked hard pushing the play up into Extreme territory but there were few opportunities to get a shot on net. United finally scored in the first minute of the second half as Sangha pressured the Tsawwassen defense and knocked in a rebound. Ten minutes later Alex Thompson scored again for Richmond off a perfect cross off the left from Cassandra Sammarco.

When the going got tough the Ground Attack got going.

Richmond's under-14 Gold Division girls' soccer team, plagued by injuries, got shootout goals from Jennifer Jones, Melissa Hann and Kaitlin Orasa to down Burnaby Blitz 1-0 in the first round of Inter District Cup play Sunday.

The teams had battled to a 2-2 tie earlier in the year in regular-season play and the weekend match was similarly tight.

Ground Attack goalkeeper Amelia Ng was solid and Melanie McPhail, Dana Winter, Amrit Dhaliwal, and Julia Diakow also played well.

The Ground Attack meet the Mission Devils this Sunday at South Arm Park in the second round of cup play.

McAulay hits pay dirt on Prairies

Richmond's Greg McAulay found himself back in the winner's circle last weekend.

McAulay, who curls out of the Royal City club in New Westminster, won $4,000 at the Best Western Wayside Inn Classic in Lloydminster, Sask. McAulay is ninth on the bonspiel tour money standings with $27,000; the best among B.C. curlers.

Kristy Lewis of the Richmond Curling Club is in 45th place with $3,000 in winnings on the ladies' tour.

Meanwhile, local and regional playdowns are nearing. The senior men's regional playdowns are Dec. 4 in Chilliwack with the top four teams advacing to the provincials.

The B.C. senior ladies' championship are De. 8-13 in Winfield, the women's Jan. 20-24 in Maple Ridge, and the junior women's Dec. 27-31 in Cranbrook.

Golgis want their title back

Maybe they just got bored of winning the championship.

Or decided they would play nice and allow someone to borrow their title.

Regardless of the reason, Team Ice Golgis are looking to reclaim the title they held for three straight West Coast Basketball League seasons until their early playoff exit last year.

With a 79-72 victory over the X-Men Sunday, the Golgis bumped their record to 3-0 and look to be firing on all cylinders.

Forwards James Kenyon and Josh Booy have added quickness to a team that was content to play a half court game.

Kenyon has hit for at least 30 points a game and also adds and outside touch to go with Scott Elliot patrolling the paint, while Booy provides the same full court attitude and bigger body on the defensive end. Kenyon dropped 30 points and Elliot 21 for Team Ice against the X-Men which got 21 points from newcomer Jason Leslie.

Finally. That was the word the Warriors were uttering after their first win of the season 81-68 over Moult Athletic.

Steve Lee, Corey Ogilvie and Mark Tasic combined for 71 points. Meralomas got 38 points from Chris Porteous in a 112-90 victory over the Rim Gods.

HOCKEY:

Richmond Peewees had a Wild time at Sooke Minor Hockey Female Faceoff last weekend.

The Wild outscored their opponents 26-8 over four games to win the tournament. Goaltender Lindsay Dagenais was consistent in net getting good support from Tiffany May, Ashley Tam, Kelsi Leaming and Natalie Korenic.

Ali Taylor paced Richmond offensively with eight goals (two hat tricks), while Megan McNaught also had a pair of three-goal games and a single in another.

Taylor Deputter (5), Amber Mann (3) and Nicole Nass (1) also chipped in offensively, while Christina McMillan had seven assists.

LACROSSE:

The Richmond Roadrunners led from start to finish to earn a convincing 7-2 win over South Fraser in Under-13 Division field lacrosse Sunday.

Danny Whyte and Trey Webster scored two goals apiece and Kevin Riback, Josh Wyton and Andrew Nathan once each.

Richmond's U15 team also won downing Port Coquitlam 13-3 led by a four-goal effort from James Werk. Jordan Innes and Will Kinash each scored twice for the locals.

Richmond U11s didn't fare as well. They spotted Mission an early 5-0 lead and wound up losing 8-1 despite dominating play in the last three quarters. Matt Doyle scored his first-ever goal for Richmond.

SOCCER:

Richmond United played a game Tuesday at Hugh Boyd Park worth remembering.

The local under-15 boys' soccer side earned a 4-4 tie against rival Surrey that was as evenly played as the score suggests.

"Any game against Surrey United is a hotly contested affair and this one was no different," coach Fraser Muir said.

Surrey dominated the midfield play but with a 4-5-1 set-up to start the game, Richmond was prepared to defend in numbers and break on the counter-attack.

Fifteen minutes into the half, striker Graeme Martin-Muir latched on to a through ball from midfielder David Whitley and went on a 35 yard gallop holding off a Surrey defender to score the opening goal.

The strike seemed to catch the Surrey squad off guard. Moments later after a corner kick, fullback Kevin Jauhal scored on a cannon of a shot from 35 yards out.

Surrey cut the margin to 2-1 and kept Richmond's fullbacks busy trying to place the long ball over the midfielders and catch the forwards on the fly. But Brody Greig on the left and Michael Rubinstein on the right met the challenge.

Surrey eventually equalized on a close header early in the second half and then scored two quick goals to go up 4-2.

With less than three minutes to play Martin-Muir, with his back to the goal, looped a shot over the stranded Surrey keeper. Then with time added on Livingstone crossed a curling free kick just into the Surrey goal area for Jordan Steblin to head the ball in for the equalizer.

Local high school rugby teams combine for 16-7 mark this season

The Hugh McRoberts Strikers conluded a successful season on the high school rugby pitch last week.

The Grade 8, 9 and 10 teams combined for a 16-7 record.

The Grade 8s, despite a two-try effort by stand-off Graham Martin-Muir, lost their final game 34-28 to eventual Vancovuer and District champion West Vancouver Highlanders; the Grade 9s lost the district final to Rockridge 34-10; and the Grade 10s won the Richmond Cup with a one try victory over H.J. Cambie Crusaders.

Territorially, the Grade 9 district final was equal but Rockridge took advantage of McRoberts' errors.

Jon Walkden, Tyler Carter, Ron Chiu, Ben Smith and Francis Tungcul had solid efforts in a losing cause.

Ninety players suited up for the three McRoberts teams this season.

"The success of the young teams bodes well for the future of rugby at the school," said Al smith, who coaches McRoberts' Grade 9 side..

The Strikers' senior team is now gearing up for a tour to Ireland, England and Wales in early 2004.