Wednesday. November 22, 2000 ~ North Shore News - 61 HAD YOUR ALIGNMENT CHECKED LATELY? The Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team wail play in a much- tougher, seven-team western conference division next year as A-League alignment takes shape. Tearns from £1 Paso Milvaukee. Minnesota. Portland. San Diego and Seaitle wall tound out the pack. The other 14 remaining league teams yell be spit beteveen the Central and Northern conferences TREY WERE LOVIN’ LENARQUZZI IN FLORIDA Vancouver Whitecaps (fcrnserty 86ers) A-League soccer team GM aad North Shore native Bob Lenarduzsy was samed the 2600 ( eaque Executive of the year during recent league meet ings in Florida Lanatduzzt was +¢-alectad to the A-Leaque execute Conmmittee iast weekend The Whitecaps also cap- tured the feague fair play award tor the seconc straight year NEWS photo Julie Iverson SAINT Thomas Aquines junior volleyballer Jutiana Ramza returns the bal? curing V&D finals last week. The STA juniors ended up with third spot in the event. STA teams win volleyball finals Jan-Christian Sorensen _ News Reporter joorensen@nsnews.com SAINT Thomas Aquinas girls volleyball teams narrowly missed a triple sweep of the Vancouver and District finals last week. The school’s bantam and juvenile level squads repeated as V&D champs while the junior level team settled for a third place finish in its tournament. The bantams, who went 43-1 during the season, defeated — Handsworth 2-1 to take the V&D title. “Handsworth has a very strong team. They've improved a lot,” said bantam head coach Michelle Purkiss. Meanwhile, the juveniles claimed their third title in as many rs with a 2-0 win over McRoberts. “Fhe main competition was Cambie, from Richmond,” said head coach Tamara Spence. The team staged a tight 2-1 vieto- rv over Cambie to gain a berth in the final. “We thought they'd come first in Richmond but they came second, so we ended up having to play them on the way to finals. ‘The final really came before McRoberts.” The juniors faced Handsworth in the semi-final round — a ream they beat twice during the regular season — but couldn't stage a victory. . i “They played unbelievably this time and we were pretty flat coming out. We just didn’t get off to a good start,” said head coach Chris Spence. “I think maybe the team was thinking tov much about the team we were going to play after, rather than Handsworth, because we'd already beaten them twice.” ‘The team went on to topple McRoberts in the bronze medal matchup 2-0. The juniors travel to a B.C. invitational tourney in Kelowna this weekend, while STA hosts the North Shore ele- mentary school playofts this week. Tamara Spence said STA’s dominance of the local volleyball scene is due to the quality of players and programs in feeder schools Holy Trinity, St. Edmund's and St. Anthony's. “They start really young, in Grade 4, so when we get them they've already developed a lot of the skills and they're pretty tough.” — Carst Senior bays go 5-0 at srovinciats Jan-Christian Sorensen News Reporter jorensen@usuews.com CARSON Graham claimed the B.C. senior boys soccer tite with a 1- 0 win over Nanaimo on the weekend. Carseat went undeteated in the lo team event, going 5 00 and eubcoring their opponents by a total of 13-2. The team opened the tourney with a 3-00 shutout ever St George's and went on to post a4- 0 win over Penticton, The team ecojoved some high dramaoan its third tilt: with 5 minutes on the dock, the boys were down 1-0 when they came back with three goals to advance to the semis against Centennial, The team managed a hard: fought 2-1] victory in that game to carn their berth in the champi- onship tinal. It was the tightest game the team played at the event, said head coach Paul Alvaro. “After the Centennial game the guys thought that should have been the final. Centennial was the best team that we played in the tournament.” The only other North Shore team making an appearance was Argyle, going 4-1 and narrowly missing the semi-final round. The squad ended up with fifth spor overall. Argyle won its first’ match against Kitsilano 2-0, but dropped its next tilt 2-00 to Guildford Park. “We tell behind 1-0 and then we threw evervthing to the wind in the last ten minutes and they Were a very smart team to suck it up and go on a counterattack. They outnumbered us on defence and scored another, goal,” said Argyle head coach Vinee Alvano, Argyle closed out the tourney with three straight victories: a 2-0 win against Spectrum, a 2-1 shave of Sardis and a convincing, 5-0 shutout over Terry Fox. For their efforts, a trio of Carson players cared all- star selections. Netminder Kevin Guidi, who had three shutouts during the event, earned a first team all-star nod, as did offensive centre midfielder Meysarm Soltani, who snagged a hat trick in the first game, eight goals over- all and tournament MVP honours. Centre back Ben Decosse also made his way to the second all-star team. One Areyle player — striker Kevin Iker — was pro- moted to the first all-star team. FINAL STANDINGS Team bE T OTW OTL Pts. arson Graham Argyle Gold Suthertand Windsor Howe Sound Sentinel Argyle Green Collingwood w 7 4 3 3 2 2 2 tt) 0 0 CON OAMWNWH = oo=-00O-N000 eoo0oeo-“$ON00 COeO0==$—-ON0 NEWS photo Julle Iverson CARSON Graham senior boys soecer team players Sean Reagan, in air at !eft, and netminder Kevin Guidi collice during a practice last week at the school. The squad captured the provincial championship this weekend in Burnaby. Argyle roots run deep for new Carson coach Jan-Christian Sorensen News Reporter joovensen@usnews.com THE student, as they say, has become the master. Carson Graham. senior boys soccer team coach Paul Alvaro is quickly establishing himself as a coach to watch on the Shore. At the very least, he’s likely got Argyle head coach and near-name- sake Vince Alvano watching his back. Alvaro served time as a player on Alvano’s °96 senior team incar- nation before graduating from the school the next spring. He also coaches the Carson girls’ soccer team in the spring and helms a U-15 girls Vancouver Metro Soccer League team along- side Argyle assistant coach Dave Irvine. While both Carson and Argyle made the cut for the senior B.C. championships last weekend, only Carson was left standing as the provincial champion when = the smoke had cleared. The Carson team was undefeat- ed this season at 6-0-0-2 (the last digit representing overtime wins) while Argyle Went 7-1-0-0. Their only loss? See Alvaro page 62