The Charles Best Blue Devils are hoping that the third time's the charm when the squad heads to the B.C. AAA girls soccer provincial championships in Vancouver this week.
The squad was bounced in the semifinals the last two seasons, but coach Alfonso Napoletano said he is hoping his team's experience will help propel them further during the 2015 tournament.
"The core has been there before and they know what it takes," he told The Tri-City News Tuesday morning. "They all have the same goal in mind they are very passionate."
After finishing the regular season with an unbeaten record and allowing just one goal against in the seven games they played, the Blue Devils kept rolling into the Fraser Valley playoffs earlier this month.
The team downed Fraser Heights, Sardis secondary, and Centennial before being defeated by South Delta 1-0 in the zone finals, the club's only loss of the season.
But if the Blue Devils hope to raise a B.C. provincial championship banner, they have some tough competition to take on this week.
Round-robin play begins on Thursday with games against Panorama Ridge and Vancouver Technical before a showdown with last year's winners, Argyle secondary, on Friday.
Napoletano and his squad are familiar with some their early opponents.
"We played Panorama [in the provincials] two years ago and they beat us in the semis," he said. "They ended up winning the whole thing. Last year in the semifinals we lost to Argyle and they ended up winning the whole thing."
Best may also be losing a couple of key players for the tournament.
Midfielder Taylor Einhorn broke her arm last weekend and Addy Townsend, who is also a long-distance runner, will be joining Best's track and field team at the provincials this year.
'WE HAVE SOME ADVERSITY'
"We have some adversity," he said.
The Blue Devils are not the only Tri-City team heading to the provincials this week.
The Centennial Centaurs finished in fourth place at the Fraser Valley playoffs and have locked up a berth in pool 'C' of the tournament.
Coach Larry Moro said his club, which missed the provincial tourney last year, was excited to be back in the championship hunt.
"I knew we had a chance," he said. "We are thrilled to be back."
Moro does not have much of a scouting report on two of the teams in his squad's pool. Burnaby North finished second in their division, while Oak Bay is said to be a physical club with decent speed.
However, there is one squad in the pool that the Centennial Centaurs have seen before: the Heritage Woods Kodiaks.
The Port Moody team managed to snare the final berth in the tournament and coach George Reis said he is hoping his young players can have a strong showing in the school's first provincial championship appearance.
"We weren't really expected to get there," he said. "We are juggling a lot of things."
