Surrey girls are Fraser Valley soccer champs

Some Surrey girls kicked butt in the Fraser Valley soccer championships, in a perfect end to an undefeated season.

The two-year-old team at Fraser Heights Secondary won the Junior Girls Soccer Fraser Valley Championships Thursday afternoon in a hard-fought game against Coquitlam’s Charles Best Secondary, after edging out Semiahmoo Secondary in a neck-and-neck qualifier game Tuesday.

This, on the heels of winning the Surrey championships earlier this month.

“I can’t say enough good things about them and how proud I am of them,” said coach Glen Payne. “They have an amazing ability to play together. They’re a very powerful force and they showed a tremendous amount of spirit and poise when they beat Charles Best and we’re just ecstatic.”

Grade 10 player Sureeta Rai said three qualities led to their win: “Heart, desire and belief.”

“You can’t coach heart,” she said Friday morning. “And you can’t coach desire. And that’s one thing you have to take out of yourself. You have to do your individual part for your team. I think we wanted it more. I think we really, really wanted it.”

(The Fraser Heights junior girls soccer team after their May 17 win at the Fraser Valley championship. Submitted photo)

Jessica Gill, Grade 9, described the Thursday final as an “emotional rollercoaster.”

Coach Dale Gill agreed.

“It didn’t get off to a very good start,” he said Friday morning. “Within the first minute, the other team scored. They were winning 1-0 right away. Near the end of the half Salina (Ali) scored a goal for us making it 1-1. Then in the second half they scored probably 10 minutes into it, then we equalized it. Jiya (Kaila) scored to make it 2-2.”

In overtime, the goals kept climbing for both teams, and the game was once again tied after two five-minute overtime periods.

“With about two minutes left in the second overtime, (Grade 8) Preeya Rai scored to equalize us to three goals. Everybody went nuts then,” said Gill.

But the Surrey girls won the game by scoring all their penalty kicks, with Charles Best missing two.

“It was a bit of relief and a lot of proud moments,” said Gill. “I always had a firm belief that these girls were going to win. I have an unbelievable amount of belief in this group. It’s just been a fantastic journey.”

(Some of the Fraser Heights Secondary junior girls soccer team. From top left: Salina Ali, Sureeta Rai, Tania Gill, Suman Gosal. From bottom, left: Jessica Gill, Amanda Hila. Photo: Amy Reid)

Salina Ali said all the way along, the team of about 20 girls “didn’t stop believing.”

“It was a hard battle, we never really had the lead,” said Salina, Grade 9. “It was always us trailing and fighting but we never gave up. When we won it was the best feeling.”

Jiya Kaila said on Friday their classmates were congratulating the girls on their win.

“It feels really good to represent our school in a sport we’re not necessarily known for,” added Jiya, Grade 10. “To win the Surrey and Fraser Valley championships was a really big deal.”

This is the end of the road for the Surrey soccer team this season, as a provincial championship doesn’t exist for the junior teams.

But, as coach Payne said, “we’ll be back.”