It is still early in the AAA girls high school soccer season, but Coquitlam's Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils are already showing signs that they could be contenders at this year's provincial championships.
The club has jumped out to an early division lead with two-straight regular season wins and have won seven in a row when exhibition tournament play is taken into account. Best has also had impressive goals for totals, finding the back of the net 33 times in sevens games, while only allowing one goal against.
On Wednesday night, the team added another notch in the win column with a 5-0 rout over Coquitlam's Centennial Centaurs.
"We were pleased to come away with a sound victory," said Alfonso Napoletano, the coach of the Blue Devils. "We were a bit concerned before the game, as we were missing 10 players and had to play the game with no subs," he said.
Larry Moro, coach of the Centennial Centaurs, said his team gave up a few changes to the Blue Devils and allowed them to take the early lead.
After that, the Cents were chasing offensively, which made them vulnerable in their own end, he added.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," he said.
Best was scheduled to take on Port Moody's Heritage Woods Kodiaks on Thursday night for first-place in the division. The game was expected to take place after The Tri-City News' deadline.
The Kodiaks are also off to a good start so far this year, notching wins in both of their regular season matches, including a 3-1 victory over the Riverside Rapids Wednesday night.
"The girls are starting to play well together," said Julie French, a coach with the Kodiaks. "Combined with their high skill level, we expect a strong season from the team."
The Kodiaks controlled the play for most of the game Wednesday, only giving up one goal in the win.
Despite dropping the first two games of the regular season, Rapids coach Kenny Jamieson said the club is still confident that it can meet its goal of getting into the Fraser Valley play downs this year.
The first two games were against some tough competition Charles Best and Heritage Woods and Jamieson noted that his team played well at the Guildford Park Start Up tournament, where they lost to Best in the finals.
"I do feel that if we have our full squad and everyone is healthy that we can definitely be a team to compete with in the Fraser Valley," he said. "I know both coaches would love to see this group of girls have some success."
Also on Wednesday night, the Terry Fox Ravens defeated the Gleneagle Talons 3-1. Terry Fox is currently in third place in the league by way of their goal differential with a 2-0 record.
