A Nanaimo rep soccer team is through to the Coastal Cup final.
The Upper Island Storm U18 girls shut out Port Coquitlam Euro-Rite by a 6-0 score Sunday at Merle Logan Field to advance in cup playdowns.
“We scored within the first 10 minutes of the game and just kept going,” said John Lee, the team’s coach. “We were moving the ball all over the field instead of being direct, so we were moving the other team out of position and finding holes in their defence.”
Haven Bouma scored twice for Upper Island and Charlotte Palmer, Alexandria Shaw, Julia Clark and Georgia Nicholls were other scorers. Chelsea Smidt, the winning keeper, was barely tested as the Storm defence was solid, the coach said.
Upper Island will play Surrey Pegasus on May 7 in Aldergrove. Lee said Surrey has a similar record in league play to Upper Island and will be tough.
“They’re a very nice ball-control team and so are we, so I expect it’s going to be more wide open, a lot of ball movement and very good soccer in the final,” he said.
The Storm, already Island champions, have now won three matches in the Coastal Cup playdowns, so the tourney has gone according to plan.
“Our goal at the beginning was to make the final so that we could see exactly what we’re going to be up against in the provincials, so at least we’ve got a few games in and I think we can play with anybody in the province,” Lee said.
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