By John Decaire
In a closely contested match, the Burnaby Lake 1st Division team lost to the Meralomas at Burnaby Lake last Saturday, 15 – 25.
Although the Burnaby squad came out strong in the first half and took the lead against the undefeated Meraloma side, by the second half defensive short falls by Burnaby in combination with aggressive Meraloma play, led to the Meralomas taking the lead and sustaining it for the win.
Burnaby Lake did do well to keep the game so competitive, however, despite the fact that Burnaby’s disabled player list is at present so long. In particular forward, Ryan Neufeld, who was taken out last week due to a hand injury, and center Graham Cross, who recently underwent shoulder surgery, were very much missed by the BLRC side.
Good Burnaby Lake efforts were given by Pat Riordan, Ryan Banks and Colin McKenzie, who consistently play a hard nosed game every week.
Burnaby tries were scored by Pat Riordan, Colin McKenzie and Kory Kawaguchi. There were no conversions.
Burnaby Lake lost in the 2nd and 3rd divisions against the Meralomas as well. In the 2nd division Paul Corriea scored the only Burnaby try and Jamie Levchuk converted one penalty kick for an 8 – 40 result. In the 3rd division Burnaby was scoreless against a very strong and confident Meraloma thirds.
Burnaby U-19 Boys lost against Meralomas 7 – 36. Alan Pavlakovic scored the lone Burnaby Lake try, converted by Shayne McCoy.
On Sunday the 31st, the Burnaby U-16 Boys lost 19-34 at home to Bayside. Ben Marshall scored a try. Robert Manning scored two tries and kicked two conversions.
The only highpoint of the weekend for Burnaby Lake was the Premier Women’s game where the Burnaby side defeated the Douglas side 24 – 12. Dawn Williams, Shannon Fedewa and Karyne Steele scored one try each. Julia Sugawara scored one try and kicked two conversions. Sugawara’s play, as evidenced by her scoring ability on the weekend, is one of the key factors to the Burnaby Women’s success.
At present Julia Sugawara holds the BLRC record as the highest scoring player this season.
