Aldergrove United Girls are a small U14 soccer team in both roster size and physical stature, filling out their numbers with 12-year-old players just to field a full squad. 

But on the pitch, they have become a force to be reckoned with, battling their way to the semifinals of the Coastal Cup, the provincial championship qualifying tournament, defeating three teams to make the final four.

"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."

As team coach Kevin Burgham described it, the plan 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."

Next up, the semi-finals, on April 27, against another North Van team.

"As a team we aren't looking beyond this game, but there is a confidence and drive in these girls to extend this cup run to the very end!" Burgham told the Aldergrove Star.