After winning the Fraser Valley North with a 6-0-0 record, Port Moody's Heritage Woods Kodiaks are No. 1 in the B.C. girls Triple A rankings for the first time in school history. (Photo courtesy Heritage Woods athletics)
Feature High School Girls Soccer

PoMo’s Heritage Woods Kodiaks No. 1 in B.C. girls soccer for first time in school history

PORT MOODY — Julie French calls it a slow build.

Now, on the eve of the Fraser Valley senior girls Triple A soccer championships, Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Kodiaks are finding their flourish in the final weeks of the 2017 season.

Capping a 6-0-0 record in the zone’s North Division regular season with a 5-0 home field win Monday over Coquitlam’s Gleneagle Talons this past Monday, the Kodiaks now head into the Fraser Valley tournament with B.C. Triple A’s No. 1 overall ranking (see full rankings below).

“It’s the first time ever for us,” said French, the Heritage Woods head coach, whose team scored 23 goals in six league contests while allowing just four, a streak magnified by a 16-1 for-and-against mark over its final four games.

“It’s really been this Grade 12 core that has been coming up since Grade 9,” she continued. “They have played a lot of soccer together and we are really balanced in all areas of the field. We have fast strikers, great ball control through the middle, and very calm and poised defenders.

“We’ve kept it fun, but we have really been building for this season.”

A 3-1 win over PoCo’s Terry Fox Ravens early in the season was a key result, but the Kodiaks’ biggest surge of the season came last week over a three-day span when they beat Coquitlam’s Centennial Centaurs and Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils by respective 3-0 and 2-1 scores.

The Ravens, Centaurs and Blue Devils finished in a three-way tied for second place in the FV North at 4-2-0.

“We have been trying to break through by beating Centennial and Best,” admitted French. “This year we were able to push through.”

Erica Reis and Kaitlyn Teves have been a pair of influential seniors who have been a calming influence a team which has also features a pair of Grade 10 standouts in Lauren Guillemet and Charlotte Hall, the latter a central defender who made her debut at keeper due to injury, playing two game and even  recording a shutout.

A seeding meeting is scheduled for Friday (today) to determine the matchups for Monday’s eight opening-round games. The Kodiaks, Sardis Falcons of Chilliwack, as well as Surrey’s Panorama Ridge Thunder and Clayton Heights Night Riders each won their respective divisions this season.

SENIOR GIRLS SOCCER

TRIPLE A

1. Heritage Woods Kodiaks (Port Moody)

2. Argyle Pipers (North Vancouver)

3. Panorama Ridge Thunder (Surrey)

4. Kitsilano Blue Demons (Vancouver)

5. Kelowna Owls 

6. Sardis Falcons (Chilliwack)

7. Fleetwood Park Dragons (Surrey)

8. Oak Bay Breakers (Victoria)

9. Clayton Heights Night Riders (Surrey)

10. South Delta Sun Devils

Honourable mention — Centennial Centaurs (Coquitlam), R.A. McMath Wildcats (Richmond), Handsworth Royals (North Vancouver), New Westminster Hyacks.

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