Mulgrave Titans boys varsity soccer: 2A Provincial champions

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Mulgrave Titans made school history in the fall, claiming the 2A Provincial Soccer banner. Made up of Grade 10-12 students from the West Vancouver independent school, the team clinched the title in a penalty shootout, which seemed an apropos way to end a season punctuated by dramatic moments.

I asked Grade 12 team member Navik Desai, a few questions about the team and their achievements.

How would you describe the team as a whole in terms of characteristics (personality)?

Navik Desai: We didn’t have a single “team personality.” We succeeded because we were a team of personalities. We had passionate and emotional players like Abtin and Kieran to motivate us, calm and collected players like Ardy, James, and Tate to keep us focused, and hard-working players like Shaiv to drive us forward. We wouldn’t have succeeded if we could be defined by a single personality.

What was the best advice your coaches gave you?

Desai: Before every game, our coaches would tell us that it was in our hands, that we were a strong team, and that we had every opportunity to win any game we played. We were always the underdogs, especially at provincials, given that we ended up as the lowest seed in the entire tournament, but we believed in ourselves and knew that we would always play our game.

What is the most memorable/frequent saying or phrase that you heard from coaches on the sidelines?

Desai: There were a few things. It was common to hear shouts at Abtin and Kieran to calm down and not get a yellow card, and almost every attacking player was consistently instructed to drop back and help the team defend as a group.

However, the most common phrase had to have been “Thank goodness for Tate.” Our MVP-winning goalkeeper saved us so many times throughout the season and in the provincial tournament.

Does the team have any pre/post-game rituals?

Desai: Before the provincial finals, the opposing team walked past us, playing loud music on speakers. We let them by and paid no attention. They walked into that game rightly confident, given their record, but from the moment we stepped onto that field, even before the opening whistle had been blown, we weren’t focused on anything but playing our game. You shouldn’t need anything to motivate you at a time like that, and we didn’t.

What do you love most about soccer?

Desai: What’s not to love? There’s the tension and energy in the air as the game is about to begin. There’s the feeling as you slowly slip from panic and anxiety in the calm-of-flow state. There’s the thrill of knowing how the outcome of a match can be decided by the smallest decisions and huge impacts from single players. There’s the fire of competition and the feeling of leaving everything on the field.

And above all, there’s the feeling of standing beside your teammates, letting eleven become one.

If the team chose a snack food, what would it be?

Desai: Everyone has their own tastes, right? Some of our players lived off of energy drinks and electrolytes during provincials, if that counts. Others went for chips, protein bars, Timmy’s, or burgers.

Share something that went wrong this season and how you overcame it.

Desai: It was the final match of our regular season, and we were facing up against Windsor, the very team that we would eventually face in the provincial final. They were just ahead of us in the standings, but it was close enough that if we won, we would be crowned league champions.

It was a tight game in the freezing cold; the ball was difficult to control, and half the time, our vision was blurred by the rain. When the game broke open, though, it fell their way. They managed to get a goal, and one thing led to another. Not long after, our keeper received a red card for challenging the opposition striker. We argued vehemently, but the referee deemed it a denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

With our backup keeper in the net and down to only ten players, they managed to score two more goals in the last minutes of the game, leaving the final score at 3-0. We hadn’t been beaten before, but that was a brutal game. We had a chance at the league title, and we fell short in a crushing defeat.

Without that game, though, we may never have won the provincial championship.

The knowledge of that defeat lit a fire under us for the remainder of our season. In the zone championships, we faced up against Windsor again, this time in the semi-final, and we gave away nothing easily. The game finished 1-1, and in there was a penalty shootout. It took all the way up to the keepers to decide it, and we missed, defeated once again. However, that time, we had come close; we had it in our hands, and when we faced the same opportunity again, we took it.

The Provincial Final

Desai: We fought our way to the provincial final to face off against Windsor one last time. Two goals, including one from a grade 10 substitute, Maddox, early in the second half gave us an uncomfortable lead for what was to be nearly an hour of tension and focus.

In the end, it was two unfortunate penalty kicks that brought them back into the game. If not for a season-saving goal line clearance by Shaiv, they would have won it, but we held strong and made it to penalties. The script was practically written for us.

We were the underdogs; we had been defeated twice, and now was our chance to win. Our hero would end up being our goalkeeper, Tate. He may have missed his penalty the last time we played Windsor, but he had no intention of letting it get that far again. He made two amazing saves, including stopping the player who had scored both penalty kicks in regulation. When it was over, we all rushed onto the field and collapsed on top of him.

We shouldn’t have won that game. By all rights, we shouldn’t have even been there. However, even when everything went wrong for us, we never stopped believing. At the end of the day you have to be lucky sometimes, but without our conviction and our courage to keep going, luck wouldn’t have mattered. We responded to the struggle by putting ourselves in a position to succeed, and when the opportunity came, we didn’t hesitate for a second.

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