Rebels surprise Aztecs in soccer playoffs

Rebels surprise Aztecs in soccer playoffs
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Nov. 3, 2002

The Burnaby South Rebels senior boys' soccer club are riding a wave of momentum into the playoffs.
The Rebels fought back from an early 2-0 deficit to down the Alpha Aztecs 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs this week, and they look all but assured of winning a spot in the 16-team B.C. High School Soccer championship series.
"When we went down 2-0 after 25 minutes it was panic time," Rebel coach Jack Attadia admitted this week. "My defense was in real disarray and people started to pass blame around. It looked real shaky.
"But I'm really proud of how they won. It would have been easy to quit when they were down. But they were able to fight back, show heart and teamwork and keep up the intensity, and that tells me now we have the opportunity to go to the B.C.'s."
South only has to win one of its remaining two games to advance, while Alpha has to win at least twice in three outings to advance.
"We made it more difficult than we needed to," said Alpha head coach Andrew Hunchak. "I guess this is a good test for the guys. We need two more victories, and we can't afford a loss. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make the provincials, and we won't be satisfied with anything less."
Alpha's Andrew Proctor proved that he came ready to play when he scored the first two goals of the Monday contest, finishing off crosses from the brother duo of Anthony and Alex Morrello.
But after taking the early lead, the Aztecs fell into a slump, said assistant coach Alfredo Valente.
"The whole team was just kind of not sure how to hold the lead," Valente said. "They collapsed for 10 or 15 minutes and South came back. Once the score was tied 2-2 we hit the crossbar, but they caught us on the counterattack."
Playing the heroes for Burnaby South were goal scorers Alan Zoeller, Edis Besic and Greg Geipal.
"We've always had the talent. This time we used our discipline and stuck to our game plan and it worked," said Attadia. "The guys also know that they don't want to play Alpha again.
Attadia said the club has done a good job of working towards its common goal this season, despite having a history of internal troubles.
Meanwhile, the Aztecs bounced back from their first playoff loss to defeat the Burnaby North Vikings by a 2-0 score Wednesday. The game was scoreless until the final ten minutes when Adrian Kekic and Giovanni Valente found the net for the Aztecs.
"For a while it looked like neither team wanted to win, but our guys showed a bit of character to win a bad game. Hopefully, we can turn it up in the next few games and start playing well, instead of just squeaking out the victories."