The News is Out ...

Caps in running for B.C. title
Coastal Cup final is today

By Jeff Bell, Times Colonist  April 24, 2010

Vancouver Island's hope for provincial soccer honours in this year's Coastal Cup lies in the capable hands -- make that feet -- of the Victoria Capitals.

The Capitals are Victoria's under-15 entry in the B.C. Metro Soccer League, which brings top players from ages 14 to 18 into competition with their counterparts from other areas. For the U15 girls, that meant a 14-team league with one entry from up-Island and the rest from the Lower Mainland -- making for a big time commitment and a lot of travelling.

The Capitals' championship test comes today at 5 p.m. against Surrey/ Guildford United in the A-Cup final, with the match being played at Richmond's Minoru Stadium.

Brad Hlasny, one of the coaches for the Capitals, said a win today would mean a rare "double" for the team, which also won the league title.

"I think the strength of the girls is that they really like each other," said Hlasny. "They play as a team as opposed to having a couple of stars that they rely on."

He said the team set a number of goals before the season started, including finishing in the top-three in league play after placing sixth in their division last year. They also wanted to cut their goals-against average, and they did so "substantially," Hlasny said.

"We went from 26 goals against last year to seven this year."

Along the way, they shut out the opposition in 15 of the league games they played and lost only twice.

Hlasny said the team is an all-star or "select" group, and the players come from all over the south Island.

"We have a girl from Saltspring and we have one from Cowichan."

In all, the roster is made up of players from eight Lower Island Soccer Association clubs.


While the team comes from all over, a number of the girls played together before reaching Metro, Hlasny said. About eight of them first played as teammates when they were under-12s, then reunited in Metro as under-14s.

"They all came back again and then it started from there," Hlasny said.

jwbell@tc.canwest.com

Online story here ... http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/Caps+running+title/2946935/story.html