Aldergrove United Girls won the U14 Coastal Cup against Coastal FC on Sunday, May 4, in another nail-biter of a game.

It was 0-0 at full time, and stayed that way through two 10-minute frames of extra time, which led to a shoot-out for the win, Aldergrove's fourth in five Cup games.

"Our goalie made two outstanding saves in the [championship] game that gave the team the chance to win it in a shoot out," said team coach Kevin Burgham.

"We were able to seal the deal with our sixth shooter."

It was another gritty victory by Aldergrove, a small U14 soccer team in both roster size and physical stature, who have had to fill out their numbers with 12-year-old players just to field a full squad. 

On the pitch, however, they were a force to be reckoned with.

"'I'm so proud of the hurtles the girls needed to overcome this season to get to this point," Burgham said. 

"It was a true underdog performance with a happy ending! "

There was a "huge turn out of fans from Aldergrove, giving us a real 'home game' feel," Burgham added.

United clinched their spot in the final on Sunday morning, April 27, with a hard-earned win over the North Van Riptide, a defensive battle that ended 0-0 at full time, then went to an epic-length shootout, where Aldergrove won with their ninth shooter.

As coach Burgham described it, the plan this season was to be a "decently competitive" team, even though they have to bring in underage players to provide a full complement.

"We have a core group of 13- and 12-year-old girls that have been together now for a few years," Burgham explained.

"This U14 age group for Aldergrove just doesn't have a lot of girls involved in soccer, so we've always had a very small roster which includes three girls playing  one year up just so we can have a team in the league."  

In November, United U14 had their first cup game, which was a knock-out qualification match for the Coastal Cup against a strong Guildford team,

"We added four U13 call ups to our permanent Cup roster and we played a home game," said Burgham. 

They managed to keep the game 1-1 and take them into a shoot-out for the win. 

Then, the underdogs from Aldergrove entered the Coastal Cup Round of 16 as the 14th seed on April 6, playing an away game in a heavy downpour against third-seeded North Van, and beat them, 2-1.

That took United to the quarter finals on April 12, playing number six seed Burnaby that they tied 1-1 before winning the shoot out.

Burgham praised the U13 call-ups as "integral to our success so far." 

"They are a smaller-than-average team in height and roster size but collectively they are a force to be reckoned with," he summarized.

"They are speedy, they are athletic and most importantly, they work hard for each other."

"It has been 10 years since the club has had a team go this far," said Brian Hunter, Aldergrove Youth Soccer Club coach, calling it  "very much a David versus Goliath story."

The annual Coastal Cup for Lower Mainland teams is one of the most prestigious youth soccer events in the province, with a long and rich history.