More than 3,000 soccer players from across the province decended on Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows over the Labour Day weekend to take part in the West Coast Cup.
Nick Pollard, president of the West Coast Auto Group Football Club said the huge turnout is testament to the health of the sport in the region.
“While other tournaments are shrinking or being cancelled, the West Coast Cup continues to sell out every year,” said Pollard. “It’s a credit to our club our members and the many volunteers, the folks at parks and rec, and our kids who have an incredible passion for the sport.”
The tournament featured 170 teams playing 340 matches over the three days tournament. Games were played across all 10 parks in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadow’s inventory, said Pollard.
He said with all the officials, volunteers, families and friends coming out to watch, the number of people taking in the three day evet is more than 5,000 strong.
It creates quite a buzz,” he said.
On the field, a number of WCFC squads had top place showings.
• The WCFC Destroyers U12 girls select A team finished the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record. The Destroyers beat the Kamloops Blaze 2-0 in the final after defeating The Port Moody Fury 3-1 to open the tournament and then topped the Langley Wolves 2-0.
• The WCFC United U15 girls team ran their record to 3-0 in the tournament, including an 8-0 shellacking of the South Delta Strikers in the final.
• The WCFC Jr. Caps U12 select A boys team scored an incredible 26 goals in four games to win their division. The team went 4-0 in play, including a 9-3 win over PMSC AC Selects in the finals.
•The WCFC U15 Metro boys team overcame an opening match loss to Kamloops Blaze to win their division. The team defeated hometown its rival WCFC U14 team 3-0 to take top spot in the division.
• The WCFC U18 boys Blazers won the division two pool going undefeated in three games, only giving up two goals over the course of the weekend.