CMF Barça's Jones Win's Gold, De Luca Wins Silver at BC Summer Games

Three players from the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club recently participated in the BC Summer Games, representing the Fraser Valley district and the Vancouver - Squamish district and came away with the gold and silver medals.

After an extensive tryout that looked at hundreds of top players from an area stretching from Port Moody to Hope, two and a half months of training and three days of competition in 30 degree heat in Kelowna, the Fraser Valley boys soccer team came out as Champions of the 2008 B.C. Summer Games. Going into the games, Fraser Valley were the reigning champions having won gold at the 2006 games in Kamloops. Having the unenviable position of being the 'team to beat', Fraser Valley had to keep grounded and focused while other squads were eyeing the big target on their backs. Nothing new for our Coquitlam Metro-Ford boys, Michael North (Sparta) and Kyle Jones (Barca), who deal with this burden week in/week out playing for such a prestigious club as CMFSC.

Anthony De Luca (Barca) was selected from a huge Vancouver- Squamish district and played extremely well earning the place as the starting striker for the district. Again, the experiences provided by the club allowed Anthony to overcome the obstacle to showcase his talent.

As both the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Squamish teams were the crème de la crème of the tournament when it came to talent, all three boys played outstanding soccer and proved without a shadow of a doubt that they are some of the best players in their age group in the province and ones to keep an eye on in the future.

With North's speed, power and determination combined with Jones' tenacity, distribution and ferocity, there was little chance that the Fraser Valley team was going to come away from the tournament with nothing less than gold. Both boys had to adjust to the 8-aside game from the 11-aside they normally play, combined with the superb coaching they get on a regular basis from the club and academies they attend, they were able to take the challenge and use their experiences and skills to meet this outstanding goal.

Anthony De Luca proved to be invaluable for his Vancouver/Squamish team scoring some big goals down the stretch run to the finals while playing the entire tournament with a very sore ankle. Like a warrior, De Luca never asked to come off and toughed it out, even taking a penalty for his team in the shootout final.

Well done to Kyle Jones (Barca), Anthony De Luca (Barca), Michael North (Sparta) and coach Dan Jones (Barca) for doing us proud!

Results:

Group A:

Fraser Valley 4-0 Vancouver Island – Central Coast 'A'
Thompson Okanagan 0-7 Fraser Valley
Fraser Valley 7-0 North West

Group B:
Vancouver - Squamish 6-0 Vancouver Island - Central Coast 'B'
Fraser River Delta 0-1 Vancouver - Squamish
Vancouver - Squamish 5-0 Kootneys

Semi Finals
Fraser Valley 4-1 Fraser River Delta

Vancouver - Squamish 4-0 Thompson Okanagan

Finals

Vancouver Squamish 1-1 Fraser Valley (Fraser Valley wins 3-1 on PK’s).