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FINAL WEEK! ( #32)—2008-05-12
PROVINCE CUP FINAL—VICTORIA GORGE FC vs SPORTING CLUB
The VMSL league champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, dropped a heart-breaking 1-0 decision to the Vancouver Island champions—Gorge FC—after a rather lacklustre 90 minutes of play. The game, held at Exhibition Park Stadium in Chilliwack, did not live up to its expectations as both teams appeared to be too cautious and extremely nervous! Although Sporting Club had the majority of the ball possession, its vaunted attack was unable to penetrate a very solid Victoria backline, led by Mark Cristante, Paul Vandenboomen, and Dean Veenhof. As a result, goalkeeper Conor Quinn had little difficulty in recording the shutout. It should be mentioned that Dave Gustar also had a great game in the Gorge midfield. After a scoreless first half, Gorge scored the lone goal of the game early in the second half when Patrick Gawrys took advantage of a Dean Anderson flick-on, outraced defender Mike Gomes and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Briam Brum, who uncharacteristically found himself out of position. Sporting Club, led by some excellent performances on the part of defender Mark Gomes, midfielder Ben Hunt, and forward Ryan Dormer, tried extremely hard to get back into the match, but once again Gorge’s defensive core exhibited a great deal of grit and tenacity and succeeded in limiting Sporting Club’s scoring chances to a minimum. For his excellent effort, Patrick Gawrys was named the game’s Most Valuable Player! The VMSL extends its most sincere congratulations to Victoria Gorge FC for having won its third Province Cup title in the last 10 years! Also, good luck in the Nationals—to be held in Newfoundland on Thanksgiving weekend!
TEAM OF THE WEEK: VICTORIA GORGE FC for its clinical performance in defeating the VMSL champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, bv a narrow 1-0 margin in the Province Cup final. Led by defenders Mark Cristante, Paul Vandenboomen, and Dean Veenhof, Gorge FC held the vaunted Sporting Club forwards at bay for the entire 90 minutes, limiting their goalscoring chances to a bare minimum. Gorge FC will now represent BC in the National Championships, which will be held in Newfoundland on Thanksgiving weekend.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Victoria Gorge FC’s PATRICK GAWRYS for scoring the lone goal of the game in the Province Cup final against Sporting Club of Vancouver. For his effort, Gawrys was named at the game’s Most Valuable Player by the BCSA. For his excellent performance, PATRICK GAWRYS will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-05-21.
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WEEK #31—2008-04-29
PROVINCE CUP PLAYDOWNS—SEMI-FINALS
The VMSL league champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, qualified for the Province Cup final by easily beating the Fraser Valley champions, Peace Arch United by a 3-1 margin in a game played at Hampton Park in Victoria. Sporting Club demonstrated its superiority by taking and 3-0 lead in the first half and then coasting comfortably through the entire second half. The VMSL champions took the lead at the 10th minute mark when Ryan Dormer, after brilliantly controlling a difficult cross with his chest, set up a streaking Ben Hunt inside the Peace Arch penalty area. Hunt proceeded to dribble by 2 defenders before slotting the ball into the back of the net. Ten minutes later, Steve Dormer set up his younger brother Ryan with a long through ball that Ryan Dormer converted into what proved to be the winning goal with a well-placed far-post shot. After goalkeeper Brian Brum had made an amazingly acrobatic save to preserve the 2-goal lead, Sporting Club put the game out of Peace Arch’s reach when Mike Gomes beat a sliding defender before racing down the right flank and sending an impeccable cross into the penalty area. Ryan Dormer capped off a brilliant individual performance by rising above a couple of Peace Arch defenders and heading the ball home for the clincher. In the second half, Peace Arch narrowed the margin on a goal by Luke Ash, but Sporting Club continued to dominate and came close to adding to its lead on several occasions. In particular, Jag Gill and Blake Douglas were unfortunate not to add to the already comfortable margin of victory. Defensive midfielder CJ Greenside also had an outstanding game as he shut down any creative attempts by the Peace Arch team with his aggressive tackling and tenacious work rate. Sporting Club will now take on the Vancouver Island champions, Victoria Gorge FC, in the final. The match is scheduled for Saturday, May 10 at Exhibition Park in Chilliwack. Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. GOOD LUCK BOYS!!!
TEAM OF THE WEEK: SPORTING CLUB OF VANCOUVER for yet another excellent performance in defeating the Fraser Valley champions, Peace Arch United, by a comfortable 3-1 margin and thus advance to the finals of the Province Cup. Led by some excellent midfield play on the part of CJ Greenside as well as some brilliant finishing by Ryan Dormer and Ben Hunt, Sporting Club totally dominated the match against the out-matched Valley team. Sporting Club will now face the Vancouver Island champions, Gorge FC, in the final. The entire VMSL fraternity wishes Sporting Club the best of luck in achieving the all-important goal of winning the Province Cup!!!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sporting Club’s RYAN DORMER for his amazing all-round performance in his team’s 3-1 victory over Peace Arch United. Not only did Dormer score two brilliant goals, but he also set up Ben Hunt for the other Sporting Club goal with an excellent pass, after having controlled a difficult cross. For his excellent performance, RYAN DORMER will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-05-07.
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WEEK #30—2008-04-22
PROVINCE CUP PLAYDOWNS—QUARTER FINALS
Only one VMSL team qualified for the Province Cup semi-finals as a result of last weekend’s disastrous results. In fact, the Metro-Ford Wolves and ICSF Inter were unceremoniously bounced out of any further Cup competition by the Fraser Valley’s Peace Arch United and the Vancouver Island’s Gorge FC respectively. In an all-VMSL match-up Sporting Club of Vancouver eliminated West Van FC to advance to this weekend’s semi-finals against Peace Arch. In the other semi-final, the Vancouver Thunderbirds—from the summer league PCSL—will meet the Vancouver Island champions, Gorge FC. Both matches will take place on Saturday at Hampton Park in Victoria with the Thunderbirds – Gorge match starting at 12:30 p.m. and the Sporting Club – Peace Arch game beginning at 3:00 p.m.
On Saturday, at South Surrey Athletic Park, the Metro-Ford Wolves surrendered a very early goal to Peace Arch United and were unable to get back into the match despite applying constant pressure for the remainder of the 90 minutes. The lone goal of the game was scored in the opening minutes of the match as former Surrey United player, Garth Wiltshire, capitalized on an unusual Metro-Ford defensive blunder to score what proved to be the winning goal in Peace Arch’s 1-0 upset victory. The ejection of Richard Price—for having accumulated 2 cautions—midway through the second half did not help matters for the Wolves as their hopes of advancing to the semi-finals disappeared into thin air. Peace Arch, as a result of its second consecutive 1-0 victory will now take on the VMSL league champions—Sporting Club—in one of the two semi-finals.
Also on Saturday, ICSF Inter travelled to Victoria to take on the Vancouver Island champions—Gorge FC—at Hampton Park. The final result—2-1 in favour of Gorge FC—does not tell the entire story of the contest as ICSF came out of the starting blocks with a vengeance and could easily have scored a few goals in the early going had it not been for some back luck and poor finishing. In particular, veteran Matt Mori had his shot brilliantly saved by Gorge’s goalkeeper, while Joseph Marrello agonizingly watched his shot miss the net by a whisker with the goalkeeper well beaten. Inter was finally able to get on the scoreboard midway through the first half when young veteran Laurent Scaligine took advantage of a Gorge FC defensive blunder before calmly depositing the ball into the back of the net for the go-ahead marker. Shortly thereafter, however, Gorge’s Dave Gustar was able to restore parity as he took advantage of some poor marking on the part of the ICSF defence to hammer home for the tying goal. Very late in the first half, young Kevin Mennie raced in all alone and scored what proved to be the winning goal—a goal that was allowed despite Inter’s vocal claims for an offside infraction. It should be mentioned that Kevin Mennie is the young man that suffered a broken leg in last year’s semi-final match against the Vancouver Firefighters. In the second half, Inter once again squandered numerous goalscoring opportunities with Matt Mori and Joseph Marrello once again being the main culprits. The ejection of Laurent Scaligine midway through the second half—for having received his second caution—pretty well put an end to Inter’s chances of advancing to the semi-finals. Thus ends a very promising cup run for the aspiring ICSF squad!!!
On Sunday, at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby, Sporting Club of Vancouver and West Van FC met in a rematch of the VMSL Premier Division championship game played a few weeks ago. Once again, Sporting Club prevailed by a 2-goal margin, this time with a rather emphatic 2-0 victory over the visiting North Shore team. The match did not live up to its expectations, mostly due to West Van’s rather poor and somewhat apathetic performance. “The Byrne Creek Curse” might have played a part in West Van’s lackadaisical effort since the former Trollers have never won a game on this field! Sporting Club, on the other hand, controlled most of the match and was rewarded with two excellent goals to win the game by a comfortable margin. Midway through the first half, veteran Mike Gomes received a great pass from Blake Douglas and proceeded to send an impeccable cross into the box where Ryan Dormer rose above the West Van defenders before heading the ball into the back of the net for what proved to be the winning goal. Late in the match, Jag Gill acrobatically controlled a Mark Gomes pass, took the ball to the goal line and eventually crossed it to Steve Dormer who slotted it home for the insurance marker. In only his second game of the season, midfielder CJ Greenside was outstanding as he made it virtually impossible for West Van to maintain any prolonged possession with his indomitable work rate and hard tackling. As mentioned earlier, Sporting Club will now take on the Fraser Valley champions—Peace Arch United—in the semi-finals of the Province Cup. The game will take place on Saturday, at Hampton Park in Victoria, starting at 3:00 p.m. The entire VMSL family wishes our lone representatives the best of luck!!! Quoting Don Cherry—heaven forbid!!—we are biased and we don’t mind admitting it!
TEAM OF THE WEEK: SPORTING CLUB OF VANCOUVER for its clinical performance in defeating West Van FC by a comfortable 2-0 margin and thus advance to the semi-finals of the Province Cup. Led by some excellent midfield play on the part of CJ Greenside as well as some brilliant finishing by Ryan and Steve Dormer, Sporting Club totally dominated the match against a rather lethargic West Van squad. Veterans Mark and Mike Gomes also contributed immensely to the victory with their excellent defending and impeccable ball distribution.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sporting Club’s CJ GREENSIDE for his amazing all-round performance in his team’s 2-0 victory over West Van FC. In only his second game of the season, Greenside controlled the midfield for the entire game with his incredible tenacity and indomitable work rate. For his excellent performance, CJ GREENSIDE will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-04-30.
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WEEK #29—2008-04-15
PROVINCE CUP PLAYDOWNS—ROUND OF 16
On Saturday, at Charles Best School in Coquitlam, the upstart Metro-Ford Wolves hosted the red-hot Croatia SC in front of numerous, enthusiastic spectators. In the end, the Wolves walked away with a hard-earned 2-1 victory, thus qualifying them for the quarter-finals of the Province Cup. After an evenly-played 30 minutes, Metro-Ford took the lead when Russel Huggon took advantage of some miscommunication among the Croatia defenders and slammed home a close-range shot for the game’s opening goal. It should be noted that the poor communication was the result of a well-taken corner kick by Emilio Bottiglieri. The Croatians bounced back with a vengeance in search of the equalizer but were denied any real goalscoring opportunities by some excellent defensive work on the part of Richard Price, Kingsley Jones, and Brook Scott. The few times the Croatians were able to shoot on net they were thwarted by the solid goalkeeping of Mathew Bird. In particular, Bird was able to prevent Johnny Sulentic from scoring as the former Whitecap was unable to beat the Wolves’ goalkeeper from close range. Midway through the second half, and against the run of play, the Wolves added to their lead when Russel Huggon once again converted an Emilio Bottiglieri corner kick as he outjumped Croatia’s goalkeeper Didar Sandhu before heading the ball into the net for what proved to be the winning goal. However, the Croatians refused to give up and finally narrowed the margin at the 80th minute mark when Chris Kolic and Johnny Sulentic combined to set up Marteen Koorn for their only goal of the match. Metro-Ford will now take on the Fraser Valley champions—Peace Arch United—on Saturday at South Surrey Park. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 p.m.
Also on Saturday, at Gates Park in Port Coquitlam, the heavily-favoured ICSF Inter edged the Fraser Valley’s PoCo City by a 2-1 overtime margin. Inter came out of the starting gates with vigour and set the tempo of the match with some skillful ball control and fine passing. Midfielder Joseph Marrello, in particular, was at his best as he distributed the ball with elegance and style. However, despite Inter’s noticeable domination, the home team held on tenaciously and preserved the scoreless tie until the 62nd minute mark when Cristiano Tropeano was rewarded for his tireless effort as he neatly deposited a brilliant left-foot cross by Sunny Uppal into the bottom corner of the PoCo net. With only a couple of minutes left in regulation time, veteran Jason Kirby tied things up for PoCo City as he converted a well-taken corner kick by Ryan Horvath into the equalizer. Early in the first overtime period, Ryan Horvath inadvertently handled the ball inside his own area, thus resulting in a penalty kick being awarded. Kevin Crouch calmly slotted the ball home for his 19th goal of the season (15 in league play and 4 in cup action). Defensively, Inter shut down the PoCo attackers throughout the contest, mostly due to the indomitable play of young veteran Scott Spracklin. As a result of the victory, ICSF will now travel to Victoria to take on the Vancouver Island champions—Gorge FC—in the quarter-finals of the Province Cup. The game will take place on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Hampton Park in Victoria.
The third Saturday game was played at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver and featured West Van FC and the defending Province Cup champions, Columbus-Clan FC. In front of a large crowd, neither team was able to score during the entire 120 minutes of the match and the result had to be settled by penalty kicks. After each team had taken 6 penalty kicks, West Van FC finally prevailed, mostly due to the outstanding goalkeeping by Marco Durante. Despite the fact that the game was scoreless, the numerous spectators were treated to some excellent performances on the part of both teams. The match was evenly played, with both teams taking turns attacking and defending. In the end, however, West Van deserved the victory, due mainly to the outstanding work of defenders Trevor Short, Leo Nash, Drew Gelley, and young Geoff Buchanan, who had the unenviable task of shutting down Columbus’ renowned offensive trio, Joe Scigliano, Tiernan King, and Tino Cucca. At the other end of the pitch, West Van’s Ryan Glanville and Columbus’ Jonathan Poli fought a monumental battle for the entire game, with Poli succeeding in denying Glanville any major goalscoring opportunities. The best scoring chance came late in regulation time when West Van’s Milad Rahmati went flying down the right flank and unleashed a wicked drive that hit both posts before being cleared off the line. Veteran Mike Dodd was once again brilliant in his midfield position as he led his North Shore team to yet another impressive victory. On the penalty kick shootout, West Van was able to score 6 times, while Columbus’ Justin Carvery saw his shot brilliantly saved by Marco Durante. The victory allows West Van to proceed to the quarter-finals of the Province Cup against another top-notch VMSL team, Sporting Club of Vancouver. The match will be played on Sunday at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby, starting at 1:00 p.m.
On Sunday, at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby, Sporting Club of Vancouver advanced to the quarter-finals of the Province Cup by easily defeating the visiting Gordon Head team—from the Vancouver Island Soccer League—by a comfortable 4-1 margin. Sporting opened the scoring midway through the first half when Ryan Dormer easily tapped in a Devon Greenside attempted shot after Brian Gebbie had crossed the ball into the danger area. Shortly thereafter, Ryan Dormer came close to adding his second goal when, after receiving a great through ball from Mark Gomes, he cleverly chipped the ball over the goalkeeper but, unfortunately, also over the crossbar. A few minutes later, Sporting Club added what proved to be the winning goal with Ryan Dormer once again involved in the play. This time Dormer played the part of provider as he set up Blake Douglas for an easy tap-in with a brilliant left-wing cross. Before the halftime whistle, Sporting Club added its third goal as Jag Gill blasted a wicked long-range drive off the goalpost and straight onto the path of Blake Douglas who had no difficulty in scoring his second goal of the match. Gordon Head made things rather interesting by scoring midway through the second half, thus reducing the margin to 2 goals. However, a great save by goalkeeper Brian Brum preserved the 2-goal lead and made things rather comfortable for Sporting Club for the remainder of the match. A late goal by Jag Gill—on a great diving header from a Mike Gomes cross—put the game out of Gordon Head’s reach. Sporting Club will now take on West Van FC in an all-VMSL quarter-final match to be played on Sunday at Byrne Creek School at 1:00 p.m. The game will be a rematch of the exciting Premier Division final which saw Sporting Club prevail over the former Trollers by a narrow margin.
Finally, Surrey United—formerly a Fraser Valley League team—was unceremoniously bounced out of the Province Cup by Langley United. The game was rather one-sided, with Surrey United having the vast majority of ball possession and goal-scoring opportunities. However, as luck would have it, none of the numerous chances were converted and the game ended in a 0-0 overtime draw. In the penalty kick shootout, Langley goalkeeper Tim Wagner made a couple of brilliant saves to allow his team to advance to the quarter-finals of the Province Cup.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: METRO-FORD WOLVES for their brilliant performance in upsetting the heavily-favoured Croatia SC by a 2-1 margin and thus advance to the quarter-finals of the Province Cup. Led by defenders Kingsley Jones, Brook Scott, and Richard Price, the Wolves were able to limit the ever-dangerous Johnny Sulentic to a very few goalscoring opportunities. Also, the 2-goal performance by Russel Huggon played a huge part in the outcome of the match as he was able to capitalize on a couple of the very few Metro-Ford chances.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sporting Club’s BLAKE DOUGLAS for his amazing all-round performance in his team’s 4-1 victory over Victoria Gordon Head. Douglas had an outstanding game on defence for Sporting Club but he also contributed on the attacking side of things as he scored one goal and assisted on another! For his excellent performance, BLAKE DOUGLAS will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-04-24.
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WEEK #28—2008-04-08
PROVINCE CUP PLAYDOWNS—PRELIMINARY ROUND
On Friday evening, at North Burnaby High School, the first round of the Province Cup playdowns got under way as Columbus-Clan FC hosted the North Delta Lions in what proved to be a rather one-sided affair. The Fraser Valley team proved to be no match for the defending Province Cup champions as the final 4-0 score would clearly indicate. Columbus took control of the match right from the opening whistle and got on the scoresheet in the early going when Tiernan King was fouled in the penalty area. King himself converted the ensuing penalty kick thus giving his team the early lead, a lead that would not be relinquished for the remainder of the game. Shortly thereafter, a hand ball infraction inside the North Delta box resulted in another penalty kick, this time converted by Tino Cucca. The second half was more or less a carbon copy of the first as Columbus, led by Tiarnan King’s brilliant performance, continued to control the vast majority of the action. In fact, it was King that added the third Columbus goal with a blistering shot from long range, thus putting the game out of the Lions’ reach. Late in the game, Steve DeBlasio rounded out the scoring as a result of a great individual effort. The Colmbus shutout was shared between Thomas Lindley and veteran Luca Dalla Pace—one of the easiest in their respective careers! Columbus will now take on West Van FC on Saturday at Ambleside Park in Vancouver, with kickoff slated for 6:00 p.m.
On Saturday, at Vancouver Technical School, Croatia SC edged the Vancouver Firefighters by a 3-2 score after a very exciting and entertaining 90 minutes of non-stop action in front of numerous and enthusiastic spectators. The Croatians took the early lead when young Marinko Maras was fouled outside the penalty box. On the ensuing free kick, former Whitecap Johnny Sulentic drove the ball into the bottom corner of the net with a shot that fooled goalkeeper Mike Franks—yet another former Whitecap playing in the VSML! Midway through the first half, Croatia added to its lead as Sulentic scored his second goal of the match after some nifty passing on the part of Niko Marcina and Johnny Peshalidas. The Firemen, however, stormed back and, late in the half, were able to narrow the margin when Niall Thompson—yet another former Whitecap—tapped the ball into the Croatia net on a fine cross from Bob Anderson. The Firefighters got off to a good start in the second half as they carried most of the play in search of the equalizer. Peter Berholz was finally able to restore parity for the Firemen midway through the second half, raising fears that the game might have to go into overtime. However, the Croatians bounced back and came close to scoring the winning goal on several occasions, mostly on opportunities by Johnny Sulentic. However, some bad finishing and some excellent goalkeeping on the part of Mike Franks kept the score knotted at 2-2 until the 80th minute mark. At this point, two Croatia youngsters—Ryan Zaharija and Marinko Maras—combined to set up Johnny Sulentic for his third goal of the match. Croatia’s Bradley Haga played a superlative game in his midfield position as he controlled the flow of the match from start to finish. The Croatians will now take on the Metro-Ford Wolves on Saturday at Charles Best School in Coquitlam in the next round of the Province Cup. Kick-off is slated for 3:00 p.m.
The second Saturday game at Vancouver Technical School featured ICSF Inter and the visiting Victoria Van Treights. Despite the fact that the visitors worked very tenaciously throughout the contest, ICSF Inter prevailed by a comfortable 4-0 margin. The Inter boys started the game by demonstrating their skills in knocking the ball around with style and finesse. However, as the first half proceeded, the visitors gained confidence and began to exert some pressure of their own. However, the Inter defence, anchored brilliantly by Bevan Footman, denied the determined Van Treights any serious goalscoring opportunities. Early in the second half, Kevin Crouch opened the scoring by waltzing past a couple of Victoria defenders before blasting an unstoppable, blistering shot into the back of the net from the edge of the penalty box. Led by the excellent work of midfielder Joseph Marrello, Inter took over the reins of the match at this point and eventually walked away with a clear-cut victory. Cristiano Tropeano was rewarded for his indomitable performance when his scored the insurance marker midway through the second half on a fine individual effort. To add insult to injury, a Van Treights player was ejected from the game shortly thereafter, thus leaving his team a man short for the remainder of the contest. Kevin Crouch, in true ‘Crouch-fashion’, capitalized on the situation and scored two late goals to put the game totally out of Van Treights’ reach. It should also be noted that Mike Tempesta had an excellent game for Inter as he ran miles up and down the left flank thus driving the Victoria defenders to distraction. ICSF Inter will now take on PoCo City on Saturday at Gates Park in Port Coquitlam in the next round of the Province Cup. Kick-off is slated for 3:00 p.m.
Also on Saturday, but at Hugh Boyd School in Richmond, Surrey United defeated Indo FC for the second week in a row by a 2-0 margin. Somewhat ironically, last week the same two teams had met in the Imperial Cup final with the game ending with an identical result. Indo FC adopted different tactics in an effort to generate more offence but, once again, they ran into an uncompromising Surrey United defence. Led by veterans Steve Millar and Graeme Magowan, the Surrey defensive core made things rather easy for goalkeeper Paul Shepherd as he registered his second consecutive clean sheet. In fact, even though Indo FC had its fair share of ball possession, Shepherd was rarely tested throughout the entire match. Late in the first half, United’s Shawn Blakeway once again broke the deadlock when he steered home a left-wing cross from Rizal Ganief. In the second half, Surrey United continued to defend tenaciously as Indo FC surged forward in search of the equalizer. David Samra came close to accomplishing the feat but he squandered the opportunity when he was not able to convert a well-placed cross by former Whitecap Dave Morris. Shortly thereafter, Lavy Mangat was allegedly fouled inside the Surrey United box by Surrey’s Mike Gahan. However, the referee allowed play to continue despite Indo FC’s pleas for a penalty kick. Five minutes later, however, Surrey United was awarded a penalty kick when Rizal Ganief was fouled inside the box by Indo’s Gary Sidhu, just as he was preparing to shoot. On the ensuing spot shot, Brian Fowler made no mistake as he tucked away the penalty with a precise low kick to provide the Cloverdale-based team the insurance marker. The victory advances Surrey United to the round of 16 where they will meet Langley United. The game will take place at Langley’s Municipal Athletic Park on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: CROATIA SC for its excellent performance in defeating the always tough Vancouver Firefighters in the first round of the Province Cup playdowns. Led by the 3-goal performance of former professional Johnny Sulentic and by some brilliant midfield play on the part of Bradley Haga, Croatia SC managed to edge the very determined and focused Firemen by a 3-2 margin. As a result, the Croatians advance to the next round where they will meet arch-rivals Metro-Ford Wolves.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Croatia’s SC JOHNNY SULENTIC and ICSF Inter’s KEVIN CROUCH for their 3-goal performances in their teams’ respective victories over the Vancouver Firefighters and Victoria Van Treights. Both Sulentic and Crouch demonstrated their goal-scoring prowess at the most crucial time—in a Province Cup match! For their excellent performances, JOHNNY SULENTIC and KEVIN CROUCH will each receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-04-17.
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WEEK #27—2008-04-01
IMPERIAL CUP FINAL—SURREY UNITED - INDO FC 2-0
On Sunday, at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium, a very confident Indo FC team surprised Surrey United in the opening 15 minutes of the match and could easily have taken the early lead had it not been for two fine saves on the part of Surrey’s goalkeeper, Paul Shepherd—on shots by David Samra and Dave Morris. Having withstood the early pressure, much like a boxer on the ropes, Surrey United got back into the game, especially through its patented long-ball tactics that produced several goalscoring opportunities, chances that which were subsequently squandered due to some reckless finishing. However, the Cloverdale-based team finally broke the deadlock near the end of the first half when a speculative cross-field pass by young Rizal Ganief found Ryan Reynolds at the right side of the penalty area. The impressive youngster brilliantly volleyed a cross back into the middle of the box and veteran Shawn Blakeway proceeded to head the ball into the net for the game’s opening goal. The goal seemed to boost Surrey’s confidence as Rizal Ganief, after finally escaping some tight marking on the part of Paul Bahia, came very close to adding a second goal but rolled his shot wide of the net after he had raced in on goal all alone. Indo FC rallied at the beginning of the second half but the very solid and experienced Surrey United defence—marshalled by playing-coach Steve Millar—proved to be virtually impenetrable. Then, at the 60th minute mark, Surrey United added the insurance marker when Indo FC failed to clear the danger zone on a free kick, allowing Shawn Blakeway to set up substitute Cory Janzen who slotted the ball into the net from close range with practically his first touch of the ball. For the balance of the match, Surrey dropped into its defensive shell and contained Indo FC’s attacks with some very organized defending. However, on two occasions Indo FC came close to narrowing the margin as Steve Millar was able to clear a Dave Morris shot off the line and, soon thereafter, Robbie Toor found himself all alone in front of the net but watched agonizingly as his shot rolled wide of the net. As a result of the hard-fought victory Surrey United captured its first ever Imperial Cup title! Indo FC, on the other hand, will have an early opportunity to avenge the defeat this coming weekend when the same two teams will meet again in the first round of the Province Cup.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: SURREY UNITED for its clinical performance in winning the Imperial Cup crown for the first time in defeating Indo FC by a 2-0 margin. Led by the excellent goalkeeping of Paul Shepherd, the brilliant defending of Steve Millar, and the clinical finishing of Shawn Blakeway, Surrey United was able to capture the elusive title by defeating a very strong and determined Indo FC. Congratulations to both teams for a fine performance!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Surrey United’s veteran forward SHAWN BLAKEWAY for his remarkable performance in his team’s 2-0 victory over Indo FC in the Imperial Cup final. Not only did Blakeway score the winning goal late in the first half on a great header, but he also set up the insurance marker—midway through the second half—with a clever pass to Cory Janzen. For his excellent performance, SHAWN BLAKEWAY will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-04-10.
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WEEK #26—2008-03-19
Several very important matches took place this past weekend as the Imperial Cup semi-finals, the Premier Division relegation playoff game, and the Division 1 promotion game were played. On Friday evening, at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby, in front of approximately 300 enthusiastic spectators, Club Ireland celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, albeit prematurely, by gaining promotion to the Premier Division in defeating the Serbian White Eagles by an emphatic 3-0 margin. The game, between the two Division 1 group champions, was well played from start to finish and provided the numerous fans with plenty of action and excitement. Early in the match, Club Ireland took the lead when Terry Bell scored on a well-executed indirect free kick inside the Serbian penalty area. The free kick was awarded when defender Davor Pipercevic’s passback was handled by goalkeeper Jovan Lucic. The White Eagles fought back tenaciously and came very close to tying things up when a long-range blast by Dejan Nesic was tipped onto the crossbar—and out of danger—by goalkeeper Craig Burnham. After enduring substantial pressure, however, Club Ireland added a second goal just before the halftime whistle, once again as a result of a free kick and once again on a great finish by Terry Bell who half-volleyed the ball home from just inside the penalty box. The second half was more or less a carbon copy of the first as the White Eagles surged forward desperately seeking their first goal. The Irish lads, on the other hand, defended in a very organized manner and counter-attacked whenever the opportunity presented itself. On one of these counterattacks, Terry Bell raced down the left flank and, after beating a couple of defenders, crossed the ball into the box where Brad Caldwell brilliantly headed it home for the game’s final goal. The victory assures Club Ireland a spot in next season’s Premier Division, while the White Eagles will have to remain in the first division for at least one more year.
Also on Friday evening, at Holly Park in Ladner, Croatia SC finished its regular season on a winning note by defeating the struggling Delta Metro Blaze by a 2-0 margin as the final 38 minutes of an earlier abandoned game were played. The match was originally abandoned early in the second half due to intolerable wind conditions with the score still knotted at 0-0. On Friday evening, the Croatians came out of the starting blocks with a lot of determination, mostly due to the fact that 2nd place in the Group ‘B’ standings was still up for grabs. Led by Johnny Sulentic, Brad Haga, Johnny Pashalidis, and Steve Dickinson, Croatia exerted a lot of pressure on the Delta backline and created numerous excellent goalscoring opportunities. At the other end of the pitch, Delta also had its share of chances, with Garrett Traversy, Craig McMillan, and Mawuena Mallett coming close to scoring. Both goalkeepers, however, Croatia’s Didar Sandhu and Delta’s Matt Clayton, stood tall and kept the game scoreless till the 80th minute mark. At this point, after Croatia’s defender Rob Hall had been ejected for a serious foul play infraction, Johnny Pashalidis was finally able to open the scoring as he converted an excellent cross by Steve Dickinson into the winning goal. Just before the final whistle, the short-handed Croatians added insult to injury when Dickinson scored his 7th goal of the season after a neat 3-way passing play, also involving former Whitecap Johnny Sulentic and Johnny Pashalidis. The victory, coupled with Surrey United’s loss to Columbus-Clan FC, secures second place in the Group ‘B’ standings for Croatia SC, while the loss eliminates Delta Metro Blaze from participation in the Province Cup.
On Saturday, at Burnaby Lake West Complex, Westside FC defeated the AFC Leopards by a 2-0 margin in the relegation play-off game, thus ending the Leopards’ dreams of remaining in the Premier Division. The Leopards got off to a great start and pinned the Westsiders in their own end for the first 20 minutes. However, Westside was able to survive the onslaught and eventually started to take control of the play as the game progressed. After a scoreless first half, Westside took the lead midway through the second half on a goal by young Colin Jones. Shortly thereafter, another youngster, Spencer Nebel, made a tremendous solo run down the left flank before scoring Westside’s second goal from close range. The Leopards never gave up, however, and surged forward till the end of the match but were stymied by some heroic goalkeeping on the part of Westside’s Rowan Anders. The all-important victory assures a place for Westside FC in next season’s Premier Division, while the AFC Leopards will be demoted to Division 1.
On Sunday, at Town Centre Stadium in Coquitlam, the Imperial Cup semi-finals were played. The first game featured the upstart Indo FC against the heavily-favoured Sporting Club of Vancouver. Despite the fact that Indo FC had already been relegated to the first division, and that Sporting Club had clinched the VMSL Premiership title last week, the underdogs continued to impress by qualifying for the final by defeating the league champions by a 3-2 overtime score. After a rather slow start, Sporting Club had the first real scoring opportunity midway through the first half when a fine header by Mike Gomes was brilliantly saved by Indo’s young goalkeeper, Amar Dhinsa. The rest of the first half was quite evenly played with neither team taking any unnecessary chances and, as a result, the halftime score remained tied at 0-0. The tempo of the game picked up substantially in the second half as both teams started to take risks. Midway through the second half, Sporting Club finally took the lead when a brilliant cross by former Indo FC player Jag Gill was brilliantly headed home by Mike Wooldridge. Shortly thereafter, Indo FC knotted the score when former Whitecap Dave Morris unleashed a wicked long-range drive that eluded the outstretched fingers of goalkeeper Brian Brum. A few minutes later, Indo FC took the lead when David Samra converted a penalty kick which was a awarded for a hand ball infraction by Mike Gomes. Sporting Club bounced back and tied things up as Steve Dormer’s cross was headed home by Brian Gebbie with about 10 minutes remaining in regulation time. In extra time, Gurjit Dhaliwal scored the winning goal on yet another long range rocket. From that point onward, Sporting Club dominated proceedings in search of the equalizer, but some excellent defending on the part of Jag Sajjan and Paul Bahia—as well as some outstanding goalkeeping by Amar Dhinsa—kept the score at 3-2 in Indo FC’s favour. It should be noted that this is Indo FC’s fourth consecutive victory—and third upset!—in Imperial Cup competition, all occurring after it relegation to the first division!!! Indo FC will now play Surrey United in the Imperial Cup final.
The second Imperial Cup semi-final, between West Van FC and Surrey United, was also played on Sunday at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium. For the second week in a row, the aspiring former Trollers suffered a heart-breaking loss, this one by a 2-1 margin against the Cloverdale-based team. Surrey United got off to a dream start, scoring in the first minute of the match when Graeme Magowan headed home a cross that was flicked on by Shawn Blakeway. A few minutes later, Blakeway came close to adding to his team’s lead but watched agonizingly as his excellent header sailed just wide of the wide-open net. West Van responded well to this adversity and, led by the skillful play of veterans Paul Dailly and Mike Dodd, proceeded to threaten the Surrey United goal, particularly with a succession of corner kicks which were cleared very efficiently by veteran Surrey defenders Steve Millar and Graeme Magowan. On a couple of instances, however, it was Surrey’s goalkeeper—Paul Shepherd—who rose to the occasion by producing a couple of outstanding saves on a goal-bound efforts by Ryan Glanville and Milad Rahmati. In the second half, Surrey United stuck resolutely to its game plan and restricted the West Van attackers to some long range efforts which didn’t trouble goalkeeper Paul Shepherd in the least. In particular, Jesse Fetterley, Ryan Glanville, Milad Rahmati, and Paul Dailly, all took turns at creating problems for the rock-solid Surrey defence. At the 65th minute mark, diminutive Surrey United midfielder Robbie Wilson dispossessed veteran Mike Dodd of the ball at the edge of the penalty area. The ball squirted loose to Shawn Blakeway who quickly, and intelligently, set up and unmarked Rizal Ganief who immediately fired the ball into the net from close range for what proved to be the winning goal. Ten minutes later, Surrey United came close to adding a third goal but some brilliant defensive work on the part of veteran Nico Berg stymied a great effort by Ryan Reynolds after Rizal Ganief had once again worked some of his magic. The West Van boys fought back tenaciously and were finally rewarded at the 80th minute mark when yet another Paul Dailly corner found an unmarked Ryan Glanville at the far post. Glanville’s header finally beat Paul Shepherd and thus narrowed the margin to one goal. The last 10 minutes of play saw West Van throw caution to the wind in search of the equalizer but the Surrey United defence, led by player-coach Steve Millar, held on till the end. The victory means that Surrey United will now face Indo FC in the Imperial Cup finals.
On Tuesday evening, at Cloverdale Athletic Park, Surrey United hosted Columbus-Clan FC in the last regular season Premier Division game. After a rather dull and uneventful 90 minutes of play, Columbus walked away with a 2-1 victory over the home team. The visiting Columbus team controlled most of the play in a scoreless first half and finally took the lead midway through the second half when midfielder Brendan Stabeno’s shot was redirected by Devin Matthews into the back of the Surrey United net, past goalkeeper Kristjan Johannson. Late in the game, Dave Hleucka tied things up with a close range shot after a well-taken Steve Millar free kick. However, just before the full time whistle, Carmine D’Onofrio–after receiving a clever pass from Robbie Cairns—drove home a blistering shot from the edge of the penalty area, thus giving Columbus the well-earned 3 points.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: INDO FC for yet another remarkable performance in gaining a spot in the Imperial Cup final by defeating the heavily-favoured Sporting Club by a 3-2 overtime margin. Led by the exceptional play of former Whitecap forward Dave Morris, the nearly impenetrable defending of Jag Sajjan and Paul Bahia, as well as some outstanding goalkeeping on the part of Amar Dhinsa, Indo FC eventually managed to defeat the recently-crowned VMSL Premier Division champions! Quite a feat for a team that was recently relegated to the first division!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Club Ireland’s forward TERRY BELL for his outstanding performance in his team’s 3-0 victory over the Serbian White Eagles in the promotion play-off game. Not only did Bell score two excellent goals, but he also set up the third with a great cross that teammate Brad Caldwell converted into the goal of the match with a brilliant header. For his excellent performance, TERRY BELL will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-03-27.
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WEEK #25—2008-03-12
The Premier Division final—between Sporting Club of Vancouver and West Van FC—was played on Sunday at Point Grey School in Vancouver and provided the numerous spectators with an exciting 90 minutes of non-stop action and entertainment. In the end, the more experienced Sporting Club prevailed by a 4-2 score over the young West Van team, thus clinching the VMSL Premier Division championship for the first time in its history! After a scoreless—but action-filled—first half, West Van took the lead early in the second half when veteran Paul Dailly’s corner was inadvertently deflected into his own net by Sporting’s Ryan Dormer. A few minutes later, Sporting Club restored parity as Steve Frazao, after having received a great pass from Steve Dormer, neatly waltzed around a West Van defender before slotting the ball into the net. Midway through the second half, Sporting Club took the lead for the first time in the match when young Geoff Buchanan placed the ball into his own net after some very sloppy defending on the part of the inexperienced West Van backline. The young West Van team—missing seasoned veterans Mike Dodd, Nico Berg, and Trevor Short from its lineup—bounced back with grit and determination and tied things up on a fine individual effort by Milad Rahmati as he fired a great shot past Sporting’s fine goalkeeper, Brian Brum. However, Sporting Club was able to regain the well-deserved lead as young Ben Hunt, after having beaten 3 West Van defenders, found a wide open Ryan Dormer who proceeded to score what proved to be the winning goal, thus making up for his previous blunder. Just before the final whistle, with the former Trollers pressing hard for the equalizer, the Dormer brothers hooked up to score the clincher as Ryan Dormer sent Steve Dormer in all alone for Sporting’s fourth goal. Both teams should be congratulated for their fine efforts! It should also be noted that both teams are still in contention for the Imperial Cup and could meet again in the Cup final!
Game #18 of the Imperial Cup playdowns was completed on Friday evening at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby after having been abandoned the previous week when the lights had gone out. The match featured the top team in the Premier Division, Sporting Club of Vancouver and the underdog Westside FC. Westside took the lead early in the first half on a goal by Taku Bradshaw after John Stonehocker had hit the crossbar with a wicked drive from well outside the penalty area. Sporting’s veteran Mike Gomes got the equalizer shortly thereafter as he converted a fine cross by Matt Ormerod. After the regulation time draw, the game went into overtime with Sporting Club taking the lead on a goal by Jeff Yoon. Inexplicably, the lights went out shortly thereafter, with only a few minutes remaining in the match. As mentioned earlier, the final six minutes were played this past weekend and, as expected, the score remained 2-1 in favour of Sporting Club thus advancing the Portuguese team to the semi-finals of the Imperial Cup where the Premier Division champions will face the upstart Indo FC.
On Saturday, at Cloverdale Athletic Park, ICSF Inter edged the hometown Surrey United by a narrow 2-1 margin after an entertaining 90 minutes of action between two teams with very contrasting styles. The “Italians” dominated the early part of the game, using their dash and finesse and knocking the ball around the pitch beautifully. Inter was rewarded at the 32nd minute mark when Surrey goalkeeper, Paul Shepherd, failed to smother a wicked drive by Matt Judd. Young Colin Streckmann calmy slotted the rebound into the back of the net, thus giving ICSF the early lead. Surrey United, using its brawn and power, bounced back and eventually tied things up early in the second half, when Shawn Blakeway cleverly chipped the ball over the Inter’s goalkeeper head after racing in all alone. At this point, Inter’s coach, Joe Marrello, made a few substitutes, changes that proved to be magical. In particular, the insertion of super-sub Liam Miller was the key to Inter scoring the winning goal in the late going as the youngster danced into the penalty area only to be fouled by Martin Schaefer. On the ensuing penalty kick, another substitute—Kevin Crouch—clinically placed the ball into the net for his 15th goal of the season. The victory solidifies Inter’s hold on second place in the Group ‘A’ standings, while Surrey United is still in a battle with Croatia SC for the runner-up position in Group ‘B’.
On Sunday, at Hastings Bowl South in Vancouver, Columbus-Clan FC destroyed the visiting Delta Metro Blaze by an decisive and emphatic 4-0 margin. Columbus took control of the game right from the opening whistle and scored very early in the match when Tino Cucca capitalized on a poor clearance by Sang Yoon Hwang and quickly slotted the ball behind Delta’s young goalkeeper, Mike Minosky. Late in the first half, Joey Scigliano took advantage of yet another Delta defensive blunder as he pounced on a loose ball before firing it towards the net. Defender Liam Smith proceeded to inadvertently deflect the shot into his own net for the game’s second goal. The second half was more or less a duplicate of the first as Columbus retained the reigns of the match despite the fine efforts of Delta’s Cam Wilson and Reyhan Ismail. Midway through the half, a brilliantly taken free kick by former Whitecap Davide Xausa sailed into the top corner of the net for the game’s third goal. Late in the match, Brendan Stabeno added Columbus’ fourth goal to solidify the victory. The Delta loss leaves the newly-promoted team in a real battle for the final Province Cup slot as they will now need a result against Croatia SC to clinch the ninth VMSL spot. A victory against Croatia will guarantee the Blaze a spot in the provincial playdowns, while a loss will eliminate the Delta team from the coveted competition. On the other hand, a draw will force a playoff with the Metro-Ford Wolves, as the two teams will be tied in points. It should be noted that the game between Croatia SC and Delta Blaze—with the score at 0-0—was abandoned early in the first half due to intolerable windy conditions. Therefore, only the remaining 38 minutes of the game will be played.
Also on Sunday, at Hastings Bowel North, the Metro-Ford Wolves kept their hopes of gaining a Province Cup slot alive by edging Croatia SC by a 2-1 margin. The match, played in front of numerous spectators, was an exciting affair as the Croatians also had a lot on the line—second place in the Group ‘B’ table and the resulting prize money. The Wolves took the lead midway through the first half by scoring two excellent goals in rapid succession. First, Adam Day clinically finished off a great pass by young Justin Isidro. The second goal was scored on a magnificent header by Reece Miles as he converted a well-taken corner kick by Emilio Bottiglieri. In the second half, the talented Croatians, led by forwards Steve Dickinson and Johnny Sulentic, began to carve out several openings and were unlucky not to get on the scoreboard. Some excellent defending on the part of Scott Butchler and Brook Scott, coupled with some fine goalkeeping on the part of Mathew Bird, kept the Croatians off the scoreboard until the dying moments of the match when veteran Darko Jelic, after having missed a similar opportunity a few minutes earlier, slotted home his team’s lone goal from close range. As a result of the victory, the Wolves remain in contention for the last Province Cup slot, while Croatia SC’s chances of gaining second place diminished substantially.
On Monday evening, at Confederation Park in North Vancouver, the Norvan Eagles escaped from the dreaded relegation zone by edging the visiting Westside FC by a 1-0 margin. Westside, in desperate need of a victory, got off to a bright start but the Norvan defensive unit, led by John Reda, Barret Germsheid, and Mark Krys held on tenaciously throughout the first half, limiting the Westside opportunities to a minimum. At the other end of the pitch, the Eagles proved to be dangerous as well—mostly on counter attacks—but Blake Burgon and James Wilson both missed excellent goalscoring chances. Late in the first half, Norvan got the all-important first goal when a perfectly-executed free kick by Jamie Dunnett was headed home by Max Baessato who rose above the Westside defenders before placing the ball into the net. The second half was more or less a carbon copy of the first, as Westside applied a lot of pressure in search of the equalizer, while the Eagles seemed content to defend and counter attack. Unfortunately for the visitors, they were dealt a second blow midway through the second half when veteran Jason Small was expelled from the game for having accumulated 2 cautions. Despite playing a man short, Westside threw caution to the wind and came close to tying things up on several occasions. In particular, veteran James Prescott sailed a header over the cross bar from close range, while Colin Jones also put the ball over the net from the edge of the goal area. The loss means that Westside FC will now have to play the AFC Leopards in a playoff game to determine which of the two teams will be relegated to the first division.
On Tuesday evening, at Cloverdale Athletic Park in Surrey, Surrey United climbed into sole possession of second place in the Group ‘B’ standings by defeating the AFC Leopards by a 2-0 margin. Despite having most of the possession, and most of the goalscoring opportunities, during the first half, the Leopards found themselves behind when Surrey’s Graeme Magowan headed home a brilliant cross by Clayton Dobbin. The second half told a totally different story as Cloverdale-based team attacked relentlessly and eventually got the insurance marker when Clayton Dobbin and Shawn Blakeway combined with a clever one-two resulting in Dobbin slotting the ball home. As mentioned earlier, the victory places Surrey United one point ahead of Croatia SC in second place of the Group ‘B’ table. Each team has one game remaining in the regular season schedule.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: SPORTING CLUB OF VANCOUVER for its excellent performance in winning the VMSL Premier Division Championship with a well-earned 4-2 victory over West Van FC. Sporting Club, led by the exceptional play of young Ben Hunt, came back from a 1-0 deficit and eventually won the game against the very tough and determined West Van team. It should be noted that this is the first time that Sporting Club has won the Premier Division title. Our congratulations to coach Joe Pinto and the entire Sporting Club squad for a job well done!!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sporting Club’s midfielder BEN HUNT for his brilliant performance in his team’s 4-2 victory over West Van FC. Not only did Hunt set up the all-important go-ahead goal, but he also drove his opponents to distraction throughout the contest with his speed and amazing skill. For his excellent performance, BEN HUNT will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-03-20.
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WEEK #24—2008-03-04
Once again, only one Premier Division game took place this past weekend—the “Italian” derby between ICSF Inter and Columbus-Clan FC. The match, played in front of a sparse crowd (leading to the question: Where have all the Italians gone?) at Adanac Park on Sunday ended in a 0-0 tie, a scoreline that eliminated ICSF from the Premier Division title race. As the final score indicates, not too many goalscoring chances were exchanged during the entire 90 minutes with ICSF perhaps having the edge. In fact, early in the match, defender Jesse Dhami sailed a short-distance shot over the crossbar while, shortly thereafter, teammate Sheldon Maistry’s header was brilliantly saved by Columbus’ goalkeeper, Thomas Lindley. In the midfield, Inter’s Colin Streckmann and Columbus’ Tino Cucca had fine games as they tried their best to create some goalscoring chances. Defensively, Inter’s Scott Spracklin and Columbus’ newly-signed Todd Lucik also turned in outstanding performances. As mentioned earlier, the tie erases ICSF’s chances of catching West Van FC at the top of the Group ‘A’ standings. The overall Premier Division title will now be settled on Sunday, March 9 in a match between Sporting Club and West Van FC. The game will be played at 4:00 p.m. at Point Grey School in Vancouver.
Game #18 of the Imperial Cup playdowns took place on Friday evening at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby and featured the top team in the Premier Division, Sporting Club of Vancouver and the underdog Westside FC. Westside took the lead early in the first half on a goal by Taku Bradshaw after John Stonehocker had hit the crossbar with a wicked drive from well outside the penalty area. Sporting's veteran Mike Gomes got the equalizer shortly thereafter as he converted a fine cross by Matt Ormerod. After the regulation time draw, the game went into overtime with Sporting Club taking the lead on a goal by Jeff Yoon. Inexplicably, the lights went out shortly thereafter, with only a few minutes remaining in the match. As a result the final 6 minutes of the game will have to be played this Friday evening, also at Byrne Creek School.
Game #19—between the Vancouver Firefighters and Indo FC—was played on Saturday at Burnaby Lake West Complex and ended in a 1-0 upset victory for the already-relegated visitors. Neither team generated too many goalscoring opportunities in the first half with Indo’s Karm Lidder having the best chance, only to have former Whitecaps’ goalkeeper, Mike Franks, come up with a superb save for the Firemen. In the second half, Indo FC took the game to the lacklustre Firefighters, with David Samra leading the way with his penetrating runs and excellent timing. On one occasion, Mike Franks once again demonstrated his excellent goalkeeping ability as he thwarted Samra from close range. Paul Bolina was also stymied on two occasions by the big Firemen goalkeeper. Shortly thereafter, however, Samra finally got the winner on a well-executed volley from close range. At the other end of the pitch, Indo’s central defender Jag Sajjan turned in a brilliant performance as he kept the vaunted Firefighters’ attack at bay for most of the contest. Only once in the second half did the Firemen come close to scoring as former professional Niall Thompson saw his excellent shot brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Amar Dhinsa. Another former Whitecap, Dave Morris, turned in an outstanding performance in the Indo FC midfield. As a result of the victory, Indo FC not only advances to the semi-finals of the Imperial Cup—against the winner of the Sporting Club – Westside FC match—but also qualifies for the Province Cup playdowns. Quite and accomplishment for a team that has already been relegated to Division 1!
Game #20 was played on Friday evening at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver and saw the host West Van FC destroy the visiting SFC Pegasus by a decisive 4-0 margin. The highly-charged and very skilled former Trollers played some of their best football of the season as they dominated every aspect of the match against their first division opponents. After a rather bright Pegasus start, West Van took over the reins of the match about half way through the first half and scored what proved to be the winning goal when Austin Lowrie headed home a fine cross by Milad Rahmati. At this point, the Ryan Glanville show began as he notched the first of his three goals when he took advantage of a scramble at the edge of the penalty area before banging the ball home. During the rest of the game, West Van dominated proceedings as veteran midfielder Mike Dodd and young defenders Leo Nash, Drew Gelley,, and Geoff Buchanan put on a clinical show, making life relatively easy for goalkeeper Marco Durante. Midway through the second half, Glanville added his second goal of the match as he flicked home a long throw-in and rounded out his hat-trick—his second in the last three games—shortly thereafter when he converted a wonderful pass from veteran Paul Dailly. West Van FC will now play Surrey United in the semi-finals of the Imperial Cup.
Game #21 was played on Sunday at Hastings Bowl in Vancouver between Croatia SC and Surrey United in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd. Croatia SC had most of the play in the first half, but Surrey United displayed some remarkable defending skills and held the vaunted Croatian attackers at bay. As luck would have it, very late in the first half, Surrey United scored the lone goal of the match when young Rizal Ganief beat a couple of defenders before unleashing a wicked drive that bounced off Shawn Blakeway’s foot and into the net past a bewildered Didar Sandhu. In the second half, Croatia SC continued to attack in search of the equalizer but the Surrey defence, led by Harp Khakh and Shawn Klein, as well as goalkeeper Paul Shepherd, held on for the victory. In particular, two excellent shots by Johnny Sulentic and Johnny Pashalidis were brilliantly saved by Shepherd. The hard-fought victory places Surrey United in the semi-finals of the Imperial Cup, against the red-hot West Van FC.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: INDO FC for another incredible upset victory—this one by a 1-0 score against the heavily-favoured Vancouver Firefighters in the Imperial Cup quarter-finals. As a result of the victory, Indo FC has now qualified for the Province Cup playdowns, quite an accomplishment for a team that has already been relegated to the first division. Indo FC has shown a lot a grit and determination during the last few weeks, a credit to the leadership qualities of its organization!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: West Van FC’s RYAN GLANVILLE for his 3-goal performance in his team’s 4-0 victory over SFC Pegasus in the Imperial Cup playdowns. This is Glanville second hat-trick in 3 games and came at a very opportune moment as it allows his team to qualify for the Imperial Cup semi-finals. For his excellent performance, RYAN GLANVILLE will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-03-13.
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WEEK #23—2008-02-26
For the second week in a row, due to Imperial Cup commitments, only one Premier Division game took place—between the desperate Metro-Ford Wolves and the slumping Delta Metro Blaze. Needless to say, both teams had been eliminated from the Imperial Cup the previous week and were thus available to play this all-important make-up game. The Wolves needed to gain all points to finally get out of the relegation zone and accomplished their feat by defeating the Blaze by a decisive 4-0 margin in a game played on Saturday at Charles Best School in Coquitlam. Delta got off to a great start and could easily have taken the lead at the 20th minute mark when a blistering long-range shot by Sang Yoon Hwang forced goalkeeper Mathew Bird to make a superb save. Bird’s save seemed to be the wake-up call the Wolves needed as they started to exert some pressure of their own for the remainder of the first half. The second half told a totally different story as the numerous spectators saw a transformed Metro-Ford side take over the reins of the contest. Young veteran Andrew Veer opened the scoring in the 60th minute after receiving a clever ball from fellow midfielder Justin Hebner. Veer make no mistake in slotting the ball past the Delta goalkeeper, thus giving his team the hard-fought lead. Delta, led by the excellent play of midfielder Justin Sidhu, bounced back tenaciously but their numerous attacks were thwarted by some excellent defending on the part of Metro-Ford’s Richard Price, Kingsley Jones, and Brook Scott. Late in the game, the Wolves took advantage of Delta’s rather reckless attacks and scored 3 goals in rapid succession to walk away with a deceiving 4-0 victory. First, Emilio Bottiglieri finished off a brilliant pass from Justin Isidro and, as a result, doubled the Wolves’ margin. Then, a few moments later, Adam Day curled a brilliantly-taken free kick into the back of the net from well outside the penalty area. Finally, just before the final whistle, Justin Isidro scored his first goal of the season as he dribbled past a few defenders before blasting the ball into the net. As mentioned earlier, the Wolves are now officially out of the relegation zone, while Delta Blaze is still in contention for one of the 9 VMSL Province Cup slots.
Game #10 of the Imperial Cup playdowns took place on Friday evening at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby and featured the top team in the Premier Division, Sporting Club of Vancouver and the aspiring first division Serbian White Eagles. The game was a very hard-fought affair and provided the large crowd in attendance with a lot of action. The final result, 2-0 in favour of Sporting Club, pretty well tells the entire story as the Premier Division team demonstrated more poise, experience and skill throughout the contest. Very early in the match, a Steve Frazao corner kick found John Blair all alone in front of the net. Blair’s shot, however, was saved by the White Eagles’ goalkeeper, Jovan Lucic, but the rebound was picked up by Jag Gill who calmly tapped the ball into the net for what proved to be the winning goal. No more goals were scored until the final moments of the match as Sporting Club doubled the score when Ben Hunt crossed the ball to Steve Dormer who proceeded to slot it into the net. Sporting defender Mike Gomes had a brilliant game and showed a lot of grit and determination when he came back into the game after having been substituted for what appeared to be a serious nose injury. Forward Jeff Yoon also played very well for Sporting Club, while midfielder Dejan Purisic had an outstanding game for the Serbians, albeit in a losing cause. Sporting Club now advances to the quarter-finals against Westside FC while the White Eagles will have to play a promotion play-off game against either Club Ireland or the Punjab Hurricanes.
Game #11—between the Premier Division Westside FC and the Division 1 Club Ireland—was played on Saturday at McNair School in Richmond and ended in a 1-0 victory for the visiting Westsiders. Oddly, Westside is in danger of being relegated, while Club Ireland is still in the running for the lone promotion slot to the Premier Division! The match was a rather dull affair with Westside’s goal coming at the 75th minute mark as Spencer Nobel, after having received an excellent pass from Keith Moore, fired the ball into the top corner of the net. It should be mentioned that Westside, on two separate occasions, came very close to scoring in the first 15 minutes as Joe Bhegani and Chris Mehuys both hit the goal post with shots that seemed destined for the back of the net. After beating two first division teams, Westside FC now has the task of playing Sporting Club—one of the top clubs in the VMSL—in the next round of the Imperial Cup!
Game #12 was played on Sunday at Hastings Bowl in Vancouver and saw the Vancouver Firefighters edge a rather disappointing ICSF Inter by 2-1 overtime score. Inter took the early lead when Matt Judd finished off a well-taken corner kick by Laurent Scaligine. The goal seemed to take the wind out of the Firemen’s sails as they huffed and puffed for the remainder of the first half, without creating any really dangerous scoring opportunities. Inter seemed satisfied with the result and sat back and defended without taking any unnecessary risks. As often happens, the strategy backfired as the Firefighters were able to get the equalizer just before the final whistle when Niall Thompson converted a long throw-in by Peter Bergholz with a near-post header. Early in the second overtime period, Niall Thompson redirected a Chris Craveiro shot past Inter’s young goalkeeper—Erman Ozkan—for the game winner. Shortly thereafter, Craveiro was expelled from the game for violent conduct, but the lacklustre Italians were unable to take advantage of the situation and the score remained 2-1 in favour of the Firemen. Young Lucas Barrett was a going concern as he drove the veteran ICSF defensive core to distraction with his speed and skill, while defender Jeff Skinner once again provided the necessary leadership in guiding his team to yet another impressive victory. The Firemen will now face the red-hot Indo FC in the quarter-finals of the Imperial Cup.
Game #13 was played on Saturday evening at Minoru Park in Richmond between the already-relegated Indo FC and the defending Imperial Cup champions, Columbus-Clan FC. In the end, the underdog Indo FC came away with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the heavily-favoured Columbus, mostly due to the amazing performance of youth call-up Sahil Sandhu. It was Sandhu, in fact, who scored the lone goal of the match when, midway through the first half, he took advantage of an uncharacteristic defensive blunder by Devin Matthews before curling the ball into the top corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area. Ten minutes later, Sandhu became the provider as he sent an immaculate pass into the goalmouth only to have teammate Gary Sidhu mishandle the ball. In the second half, both teams traded excellent goalscoring opportunities with Columbus hitting the crossbar on 3 separate occasions on shots by Joe Scigliano, Nathan Quan, and Steve DeBlasio. At the other end of the pitch, Sandhu was unable to capitalize on 3 clear-cut breakaway opportunities and, as a result, the game ended with a 1-0 Indo FC victory. Goalkeeper Amar Dhinsa, as well as midfielders Dave Morris and Andrew Riopel played very well for Indo FC during the entire match, allowing their team to progress to the next round of the Imperial Cup where they’ll face yet another powerhouse, the Vancouver Firefighters.
Game #14, between the Premier Division Group ‘B’ leaders—West Van FC—and the first division Vancouver Olympics ended in a rather predictable 2-0 victory for the former Trollers. The game was played on Friday evening at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver and was dominated almost entirely by the home team. The Olympics defended tenaciously for most of the match and relied almost entirely on counter-attacks to penetrate the West Van defence. The tactic almost worked twice—once in the first half and once in the second—as the Olympics’ lone striker, Frank Randazzo, came close to scoring on two separate occasions. However, goalkeeper Jamie Locke rose to the occasion both times and denied the Olympics their only scoring opportunities. Finally, midway throught the second half, West Van notched its first goal as Austin Lowrie set up Milad Rahmati with a great pass. Rahmati made no mistake in placing the ball past the Olympics’ fine goalkeeper, Marc D’Andrea. Shortly thereafter, it was Lowrie’s turn to score as he cheekily back-heeled the ball into the net from close range. Defender Leo Nash almost added a third goal for West Van but his shot hit the crossbar with D’Andrea well beaten. As a result of the well-earned victory, West Van will now advance to the quarter-finals of the Imperial Cup where they will face another first division team, SFC Pegasus.
Game #15, featuring two first division teams—FC Romania and SFC Pegasus—ended with an emphatic 6-0 victory for the visiting Surrey team. Young veteran Jamie Fiddler scored 4 times for Pegasus in the first half to give his team an insurmountable 4-0 halftime lead. Fiddler could easily have scored 5 goals as he inexplicably missed a penalty kick in the early going! The missed spot shot only seemed to anger the firy, red-headed Fiddler as he proceeded to score a variety of beautiful goals with both his head and feet. Pegasus youngsters, Sammy Montgomery and Ravi Mandair, rounded out the scoring in the second half, while another youngster—Andrew Reed—made countless runs down both flanks, thus creating several goalscoring opportunities. The Pegasus backline, led by veterans Ryan Green and Garrett Whitworth, was rock solid throughout the entire 90 minutes of action. Pegasus will now take on West Van FC in a match that should be very interesting as several former Pegasus players are now on the West Van roster!
Game #16 was played on Sunday at Adanac Park in Vancouver between Croatia SC and the visiting Norvan Eagles. The final result, 2-1 in favour of the Croatians certainly does not tell the entire story as the winners were forced to play most of the game with only 9 players! The match, played in front of numerous enthusiastic fans, got off to a slow start as both teams seemed content to defend and perhaps exploit the other team’s weaknesses. The first real scoring chance occurred at the 15th minute mark when Croatia’s Steve Dickinson—after being brilliantly set up by Bradley Haga—proceeded to shoot the ball wide of the net. Midway through the first half, Croatia’s Petar Sulentic was expelled from the game for serious foul play and Norvan quickly took advantage of the situation by scoring the go-ahead goal as James Wilton converted a hard-driven low cross from Max Baessato from close range. Despite playing with only 10 men, Croatia started creating scoring chances in the second half. In particular a Johnny Sulentic shot, after the former professional had beaten a couple of Norvan defenders, was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper GianCarlo Martino. Things got even worse for Croatia when, midway through the second half, defender Robin Hart was issued his second caution, resulting in his expulsion from the match. Despite being down 2 men, the Croatians were not deterred and continued attacking in search of the equalizer. Kreso Vunic and Johnny Sulentic both came very close to tying things up but both missed the net by mere inches. Just before the full time whistle, however, the two combined to score the tying goal as Sulentic’s well-taken free kick was converted by Vunic into the tying goal. In the overtime, Croatia played with a more defensive strategy and tried to force the Eagles to attack. Norvan, however, did the exact opposite and neither team was able to create any real goalscoring chances until the last few minutes of the second overtime period. The late insertion of two youngsters—Marinko Maras and Ryan Zaharija—paid enormous dividends as the two combined to score the winning goal as Zaharija stripped a Norvan defender of the ball before racing in all alone and beating GianCarlo Martino with a well-placed, hard shot. Defensively, Darko Jelic and Bradley Haga played extremely well for the Croatians, while Norvan’s Nick Seddon and Barret Germsheid also deserve special mention for their fine play, albeit in a losing cause. The victory advances Croatia SC to the quarter-finals of the Imperial Cup against Surrey United.
Game #17, yet another matchup between a Premier team—Surrey United—and one from Division 1—Cliff Avenue United—was played on Saturday at Cloverdale Athletic Park and ended with a predicatable 4-0 victory for the home team. Surrey United dominated the entire 90 minutes of play and could easily have won by a more decisive margin. Graeme Magowan, Rizal Ganief, Clayton Dobbin, and a Cliff Avenue defender scored the Surrey United goals, leading the Cloverdale-based team to the next round of the Imperial Cup against the red-hot Croatia SC.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: CROATIA SC for its amazing performance in its come-from-behind 2-1 overtime victory over the Norvan Eagles. What is amazing is the fact that the Croatians played most of the game with only 9 players after having received two red cards during regulation time! Led by the incredible defensive work of Bradley Haga and Darko Jelic, Croatia SC rallied from a 1-0 deficit, tied the game near the end of regulation time and eventually walked away with the victory by scoring a goal just before the final whistle.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: SFC Pegasus’ young veteran JAMIE FIDDLER for his 4-goal performance in his team’s 6-0 victory over FC Romania in the Imperial Cup playdowns. After having missed an early penalty kick, Fiddler rallied back with incredible determination and scored 4 goals in the first half—two with his feet and two with his head! For his excellent performance, JAMIE FIDDLER will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-03-06.
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WEEK #22—2008-02-19
The first round of the Imperial Cup was played this past weekend and, as a result, only one Premier Division game took place—between the aspiring ICSF Inter and the rather complacent and lethargic Sporting Club. Inter, with the Group ‘A’ title still a possibility, totally dominated the entire match and fully deserved the final 4-1 victory. The game, played at Adanac Park on Sunday, saw Inter take a 3-0 halftime lead and coast to the eventual emphatic victory. Veteran Matt Mori scored the first ICSF goal as he latched on to a great pass by Joseph Marrello before slotting the ball past a bewildered Brian Brum in the Sporting Club’s net. Shortly thereafter, young Colin Streckmann displayed an enormous amount of class by finishing off a fine individual effort for Inter’s second goal. Before the halftime whistle, Sheldon Maistry put the game out of Sporting Club’s reach by adding ICSF’s third goal. In the second half, Inter continued to dominate and was rewarded when Laurent Scaligine finished off a great pass by Cristiano Tropeano as he outraced goalkeeper Brian Brum and proceeded to score his team’s final goal. Very late in the game, Sporting Club finally got on the scoreboard as John Blair converted a fine cross by Jag Gill. The ICSF midfield—composed of veteran Dale Gill, Joseph Marrello, and young Colin Streckmann—was absolutely superb throughout the contest, while forwards Matt Mori and Cristiano Tropeano drove the Sporting Club defence to distraction with their tenacity and skill. As mentioned earlier, the victory keeps Inter’s hopes of winning the Group ‘B’ title alive, while Sporting Club has now completed its regular season with an enviable 16-0-3 record. Inter will have to win its remaining two games, against Columbus-Clan and Surrey United to catch the group leading West Van FC.
Game #1 of the Imperial Cup playdowns took place on Friday evening at Mercer Stadium in New Westminster and featured two Division 1 teams—the Punjab Hurricanes and the Serbian White Eagles. The match was a see-saw affair and had to be settled in extra time after a 2-2 tie. Eventually, the White Eagles prevailed and walked away with a hard-earned overtime 4-2 victory. In regulation time, Miso Rakita and Oggie Miskovic scored for the Serbians, with Miskovic’s coming in the dying moments to send the game into extra time. The Hurricanes’ goals, on the other hand, were scored by Dave Chohan and Sunny Badesha. In overtime, Nemanja Okuka and Dejan Purisic put the game out of the Hurricanes’ reach by scoring for the Serbian White Eagles, who will now take on Sporting Club in the next round of the Imperial Cup.
Game #2—between the Premier Division Westside FC and the Division 1 Wickham FC—was also played on Friday evening at Point Grey School in Vancouver. After a rather one-sided 90 minutes of play, Westside walked away with a very comfortable 8-1 victory, thus eliminating the North Shore team from any further cup play. Colin Jones and veteran Jason Small led the way by scoring two goals each, while Taku Bradshaw, John Stonehocker, Sebastian Crema, and Andrew Cooke rounded out the Westside scoring with a goal apiece. Ashkan Parsa managed to score Wickham’s lone goal late in the match. Westside FC will now take on another Division 1 team—Club Ireland—in the round of 16.
Game #3 was played on Saturday at South Memorial Park in Vancouver and saw the Vancouver Firefighters easily defeat the hot-and-cold AFC Leopards by a 4-1 margin. The Fireman opened the scoring early in the match as Lucas Barrett, Wesley Barrett, and Trevor Rosencrans combined to set up veteran, and former professional, Niall Thompson who brilliantly headed the ball past the Leopards’ goalkeeper Che Koostra-Nair. It should be mentioned that the Leoapards’ regular goalkeeper, Josh Wicks, is presently trying out for the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. Shortly after the Firefighters’ opening goal, Trevor Rosencrans added what proved to be the winner after being brilliantly set up by Peter Bergholz. Early in the second half, Bergholz once again played the part of the provider as he set up Niall Thompson for his second goal of the match. The Leopards replied quickly as Justin Cordick scored their lone goal of the game, but the Firemen restored their 3-goal lead just before the final whistle as Niall Thompson set up Chris Craveiro for the final marker. The Firemen will now take on ICSF Inter in the next round of the Imperial Cup in what promises to be the match of the week! The game is scheduled for Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Hastings Bowl in Vancouver.
Game #4 was played on Saturday evening at Minoru Park in Richmond between the Premier Division Indo FC and Primo FC of Division 1. After Primo FC had gotten off to a good start, Indo FC took over the reins of the match and eventually won the match by a 3-1 margin. Andrew Riopel opened the scoring midway through the first half with a well-placed shot from the edge of the penalty box. Former Whitecap Dave Morris added Indo’s second goal when Lavy Mangat found him streaking down the right flank with an immaculate pass. In the second half, Paul Bolina and Dave Morris came close to adding to Indo’s lead but were thwarted by some excellent goalkeeping on the part of Primo’s Reza Naderi. However, at the 70th minute mark, Andrew Riopel found Lavy Mangat all alone in the box for the third, and final, Indo goal of the match. The Primo FC players, however, were rewarded for their persistence and hard work when, late in the match, Brian Archibald pounced on a rebound and slotted the ball home for his team’s lone goal. Indo FC will now face powerhouse Columbus-Clan in the next round of the Imperial Cup.
Game #5, between the defending Imperial Cup champions—Columbus-Clan FC—and Akal FC of the first division, fully lived up to its expectations as the Premier Division Columbus toyed with the visitors from start to finish and eventually won the game by a 4-0 margin. The Italians got on the scoreboard early in the match when Tino Cucca, after receiving a nifty short corner kick from Joey Scigliano, unleashed a wicked shot into the top corner of Akal net. Cucca almost added to Columbus’ lead shortly thereafter but saw his powerful drive bounce off the crossbar and out of danger. Late in the first half, Tiernan King was fouled inside the Akal 18-yard area. On the ensuing penalty kick, King himself scored Columbus’ second goal. The second half was more or less a repetition of the first as Columbus dominated proceedings from start to finish. Joe Scigliano scored Columbus’ third goal on a well-taken free kick from well outside the area. Late in the match, Steve DeBlasio added the fourth marker when he raced in all alone after receiving an immaculate pass from Gino Gaita. Goalkeepers Thomas Lindley and veteran Luca Dalla Pace shared the shutout—probably the easiest of their careers! Columbus’ next opponent will be Indo FC in the round of 16 of the Imperial Cup.
Game #6, featuring the Sapperton Rovers and the Vancouver Olympics, resulted in a huge upset as the first division Olympics defeated the Premier Division Rovers by an astounding 4-0 margin. The game, played at Queen’s Park Stadium on Saturday, featured an outstanding performance on the part of the underdog Olympics, as well as a very disappointing one by the already relegated Rovers. Paulo Almeida and Frank Randazzo scored in the first half for the Olympics, while Jasdeep Toor and Marko Mirisklavos added a couple of more goals in the second half to round out the scoring. Randazzo’s goal came from a blazing shot from well outside the penalty area while Toor’s goal was a thing of beauty as he ran practically the length of the entire field, down the left flank, before blasting the ball into the net from close range. Dalver Varn and Kenroy King were outstanding in their defensive roles for the Olympics, while Nico Parente turned in a brilliant performance in the midfield. The Olympics will now face West Van FC—on of the top teams in the VMSL—in the next round of the cup.
Game #7 was played on Saturday at Newton Athletic Park in Surrey between SFC Pegasus and Delta Metro Blaze. Once again, the underdog Division 1 team, in this case SFC Pegasus, prevailed against the heavily-favoured Premier Division squad, Delta Blaze. The game had to be decided on penalty kicks after a 2-2 overtime draw could not determine a victor. Delta looked very strong in the first 30 minutes and took an early 2-0 lead. Former Whitecap Stefan Leslie set up both Delta goals with 2 magnificent, and virtually identical, crosses that were finished off with easy tap-ins by Craig McMillan and Reyhan Ismail. Pegasus battled back, however, and narrowed the margin near the end of the first half when a seemingly harmless free kick by Adam Costley was inadvertently deflected into his own net by a Delta defender. The goal seemed to give the Pegasus players a badly needed lift as they came out flying in the second half, creating numerous chances to tie the game up while, at the same time, tightening up their defensive strategy. At the 69th minute mark, Pegasus was able to score the tying goal on a header by Adam Costley, a shot that Delta goalkeeper Matt Clayton badly mishandled. Shortly thereafter, however, Clayton made amends for his blunder when he saved a wicked drive by young Andrew Reed. After a scoreless 30 minutes of overtime, the match had to be settled by penalty kicks and Pegasus eventually prevailed by a score of 8-7. It should be noted that Pegasus’ goalkeeper, Mike Halford made a sensational save on the 5th Delta shot to send the game into the sudden-death penalty kick stage. Midfielders Justin Sidhu and Stefan Leslie played extremely well for the Blaze, albeit in a losing cause, while forward Ryan Powell, goalkeeper Mike Halford, and midfielders Adam Costley and Jamie Fiddler were outstanding in leading Pegasus to the upset victory. Pegasus will now face another Division 1 team, FC Romania in the next round of the Imperial Cup.
Game #8, yet another matchup between a Premier team—Norvan Eagles—and one from Division 1—Richmond United—was played on Saturday at Kinsman Stadium in North Vancouver. The final score, 2-0 in favour of the Eagles, is pretty well indicative of the flow of the match as the Richmond team seemed more interested in keeping the score respectable than in winning the match. Despite dominating the entire first half, Norvan had to wait till the 40th minute mark to score what proved to be the winning goal when Danny Muir and Blake Burgon combined to set up Corey Birza who made no mistake from close range. In the second half, Norvan could easily have put the game out of Richmond’s reach but Matt Hartwell and Corey Birza squandered excellent goalscoring chances, both on fine crosses by Max Bassato. Finally, the Eagles scored the insurance marker near the end of the match when speedy Blake Burgon’s cross to the far post was redirected by Corey Birza onto the foot of Cam Taylor who calmy deposited the ball into the back of the net. Norvan will now face the indomitable task of playing against the heavily-favoured Croatia SC—one of the hottest teams in the VMSL—in the round of 16 of the Imperial Cup.
Game #9 was played at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium between the Metro-Ford Wolves and Surrey United and ended in a 3-1 overtime victory for the visiting Cloverdale-based team. After a rather dull start, Surrey took the lead midway through the first half when playing-coach Steve Millar headed home a well-taken corner kick by Lee Grant. The Wolves bounced back in the second half and eventually tied things up when an uncharacteristic defensive blunder by Steve Millar allowed Russel Huggon to pounce on the loose ball and steer it past a helpless Paul Shepherd. At this point the Rizal Ganief show started as the young Surrey striker began to drive the Metro-Ford defenders to distraction with his pace and well-refined skills. First, Ganief fired an amazing long-range shot that seemed destined for the back of the net only to have the Wolves’ goalkeeper, Mat Bird, make a sensational save. Then, just before the full time whistle, Ganief outpaced the Metro-Ford defence and cleverly tried to slide the ball past a challenging Bird only to watch the ball agonizingly roll inches wide of the far post. In the overtime, Ganief continued to rip apart the Metro-Ford defence and was finally rewarded near the end of the first period when he took advantage of a headed flick-on by Shawn Blakeway before hammering a low shot off the far post and into the net. The Wolves fought back in the second overtime period but were repelled by a well-organized and determined Surrey defensive core. Late in the game, Ganief once again took advantage of his speed as he ran onto a great through ball by Steve Millar before steering it into the Wolves’ net for the insurance marker. Surrey United thus advances to the round of 16 against Cliff Avenue United.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: ICSF INTER for its impressive performance in defeating the practically unbeatable Sporting Club by a decisive 4-1 in the only Premier Division game played this past weekend. Inter needed to win this match to remain in contention for the Group ‘A’ title, and perhaps the VMSL Premier Division championship. Led by the excellent play of midfielders Colin Streckmann, Joseph Marrello, and Dale Gill as well as the dangerous forays of forwards Matt Mori and Christian Tropeano, Inter fully deserved its decisive margin of victory. Inter must now beat Columbus-Clan and Surrey United to catch West Van FC at the top of the table.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Surrey United’s young forward RIZAL GANIEF for his absolutely amazing performance in his team’s hard-fought 3-1 overtime victory over the Metro-Ford Wolves. Not only did Ganief score both the overtime goals that allowed Surrey United to defeat the Wolves, but he also came close to scoring on a couple of other occasions in regulation time. Ganief’s speed and skill drove the Metro-Ford defence crazy throughout the match! For his excellent performance, RIZAL GANIEF will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-02-28.
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WEEK #21—2008-02-12
Five out of the six scheduled Premier Division games were played this past weekend as most fields were deemed to be playable. A couple of issues were settled, while a couple of others remained unresolved. Indo FC and the Sapperton Rovers have now officially been relegated to Division 1, while West Van FC climbed one step closer to clinching the Group ‘A’ title by edging the Norvan Eagles in the North Shore derby. The only team left with a chance of catching the former Trollers is ICSF Inter who has to win its remaining 3 games to catch the group leaders. At the bottom of the tables, the battle to avoid relegation became even more intense as 4 teams—AFC Leopards, Metro-Ford Wolves, Westside FC, and the Norvan Eagles—are still in a fierce battle to remain in the Premier Division. Unfortunately, one of the 4 above-mentioned teams will have to join the Sapperton Rovers and Indo FC in Division 1.
On Friday evening, at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby, ICSF Inter remained in the battle for first place in the Group ‘A’ standings by edging the slumping Vancouver Firefighters by a 1-0 margin. Despite the fact that Inter desperately needed all 3 points to remain in contention for the group championship—and perhaps the VMSL title—not too many scoring chances were created throughout the contest as both teams seemed more interested in defending than attacking. Late in the second half, however, Inter’s coach—Joe Marrello—made a couple of key substitutions, inserting forwards Christian Tropeano and young Liam Miller into the lineup. The strategy proved to be very successful as Miller, in his senior soccer debut, was able to get to the end of a cross by Joseph Marrello—flicked on the veteran Matt Mori—to score the lone goal of the match. Colin Streckmann and Matt Judd were solid in the ICSF midfield, while Laurent Scaligine was his usual energetic self on the right flank. For the Firemen, defenders Jeff Skinner and Steve McAuley played very well in a losing cause, while forward Lucas Barrett was once again a going concern throughout the match. As mentioned earlier, the victory keeps Inter’s hopes of catching West Van FC alive, although the Italians have to win all 3 of their remaining matches to accomplish that difficult feat. One of the 3 matches, against Group ‘B’ champions Sporting Club, will be played this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Adanac Park in Vancouver, due to the fact that both teams have a bye in the first round of the Imperial Cup.
On Saturday, at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver, West Van FC edged the Norvan Eagles by a 3-2 margin in a fiercely-contested North Shore derby. The match was originally scheduled for Kinsman Stadium but had to be moved to Ambleside Park due to the accumulation of snow at higher elevations. Both teams desperately needed all 3 points, but for very different reasons: West Van to solidify its hold on first place in the Group ‘A’ table, and the Eagles to avoid relegation . After a rather slow start, West Van took over the reins of the match and opened the scoring midway through the first half as Milad Rahmati and Mike Dodd combined to set up a streaking Ryan Glanville, whose hard, low shot eluded big Mike Norris in the Norvan goal. Ten minutes later, Glanville doubled West Van’s lead by scoring his second goal of the match in very similar fashion. This time, however, Glanville was sent in on goal by a clever Sean Taylor pass after Milad Rahmati had demonstrated some impeccable skills in beating 3 opponents. West Van continued to press and came close to putting the match out of Norvan’s reach as Milad Rahmati, Paul Dailly, and Ryan Glanville all came close to scoring. The Eagles also had a glorious chance to narrow the margin, but John Reda was unable to set up a wide-open Blake Burgon and thus squandered the opportunity. Late in the half, however, a well-taken free kick by Norvan’s Greg Muir found a wide-open James Wilton whose header sailed into the West Van net, thus reducing the margin to 2-1 at the halftime whistle. In the second half, both teams took turns attacking with Milad Rahmati once again coming close to scoring for West Van as he saw his wicked shot ricochet off the post and out of danger. However, it was Norvan that eventually tied things up as Danny Muir converted a penalty kick for the equalizer. The spot shot was awarded when James Wilton, after receiving a pass from Max Baessato, was tripped inside the box by West Van defender Leo Nash. At this point, both teams threw caution to the wind in search of the all-important winning goal. After several opportunities were squandered at both ends of the field, it was West Van that finally scored the winner, when Ryan Glanville capped off an amazing individual performance by racing by a couple of Norvan defenders before depositing the ball into the back of the net with yet another hard, low shot. The loss leaves the Eagles in a precarious position in the Group ‘B’ table. Their last game, against Westside FC, is of the utmost importance since both teams are near the bottom of the standings and need a victory to climb out of the danger zone.
Also on Saturday, at Cloverdale Athletic Park, Westside FC edged the host Surrey United by a 3-2 margin in a game that meant much more to the visitors than to the Cloverdale-based team. In fact, by gaining all 3 points, the Westsiders kept their hopes of avoiding relegation alive and, at the same time, put an end to Indo FC’s dreams of staying in the Premier Division. The visitors got off to a great start as Joe Bhegani took advantage of an uncharacteristic Surrey United defensive blunder to slot home the opening goal from the edge of the penalty area in the first minute of play. Surrey bounced back tenaciously and scored twice during the remainder of the first half to gain a 2-1 halftime lead. On the first goal, Westside goalkeeper Rowan Anders made a brilliant save on a shot by young Rizal Ganief only to have veteran Graeme Magowan head home the ensuing corner kick. The go-ahead goal came shortly thereafter with Ganief once again playing the major role as he slotted the ball home from close range. Early in the second half, Dave Irvine tied things up for Westside as he nodded home a well-executed corner kick by Chris Mehuys. Then, at the 65th minute mark, Taku Bradshaw latched on to a long punt by goalkeeper Rowan Anders and clinically placed the ball into the back of the Surrey United net for the winning goal. At this point, the home team tried desperately to get back into the match, but some excellent defending on the part of centre-back Cam Kochorek kept them at bay. Westside FC must now face the Norvan Eagles in both teams’ last game of the season in a game that will more than likely decide which team will face the AFC Leopards in the relegation playoff.
On Saturday evening, at Minoru Park in Richmond, Indo FC—a team that had just learned about Westside’s victory and, as a result, its relegation to the first division—faced the very desperate Sapperton Rovers. As it turns out, the team with nothing but pride at stake—Indo FC—carried most of the play for the entire 90 minutes and fully earned the 2-0 victory. Inexplicably, the Rovers played the game without any emotion and, as a result of the loss, now join Indo FC in the first division of the VMSL. The first half ended 0-0 despite the fact that Indo FC had by far the best scoring opportunities. In particular, Lavy Mangat and Karm Lidder both hit the post in rapid succession late in the first half. In the second half, youth call-up Sahil Sandhu took things into his own hands and could easily have scored on 3 separate occasions had it not been for the outstanding goalkeeping on the part of Corey Breure. At the 75th minute mark, however, Sandhu sent David Samra in on goal with an excellent pass which resulted in Samra eluding a charging Breure and chipping the ball into the net from well outside the penalty area. Shortly thereafter, Sahil Sandhu rounded out his excellent individual performance with a brilliant solo effort as he raced in on goal from the middle of the park before slotting the ball home. It should be noted that this was Sandhu’s 5th goal in Indo FC’s last 4 games—the only matches he has played in the VMSL this season! As mentioned earlier, both teams—Indo FC and the Sapperton Rovers—have now officially been relegated from the Premier Division.
The last game was played on Sunday at Adanac Park in Vancouver and featured two of the most skilled teams in the VMSL—Columbus-Clan FC and Croatia SC. Neither team had a whole lot to play for since both of them are out of the championship race and should easily qualify for a Province Cup slot. However, the match was very well played and extremely competitive and, in the end, Columbus came away with a hard-earned 1-0 victory. Columbus had the best scoring chance in the first half but Nathan Quan saw his blazing shot saved brilliantly by Didar Sandhu. On the ensuing rebound, Joe Scigliano rattled his shot off the woodwork with Sandhu well beaten. The Croatians replied in kind and Petar Sulentic saw his brilliant shot from the edge of the penalty area exceptionally saved by Columbus goalkeeper Thomas Lindley. Early in the second half, Tiernan King scored the game’s lone goal as he beat two Croatia defenders before calmly placing the ball into the back of the net. Croatia SC came storming back and came very close to equalizing on a few occasions but some poor finishing and lady luck played a huge part in preserving Columbus’ lead. On two separate occasions, Steve Dickinson was sent in all alone by Johnny Sulentic only to see his shots go wide of the net. Then, late in the game, Croatia SC hit the woodwork on 4 separate occasions, on shots by Steve Dickinson, Johnny Sulentic, Tom Babic, and Ryan Zaharija.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: WESTSIDE FC for its impressive performance in defeating the heavily-favoured Surrey United by a 3-2 margin. The visiting Westsiders took an early lead but fell behind 2-1 before regrouping and clinching all 3 very important points. Although the victory does not guarantee that Westside FC will avoid relegation, it does help a great deal towards that quest!
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: INDO FC’s young forward SAHIL SANDHU and WEST VAN FC’S striker RYAN GLANVILLE for their unbelievable performances in their teams’ impressive victories over the Sapperton Rovers and the Norvan Eagles respectively. Sahil Sandhu scored once and set up the other goal as Indo FC defeated the Rovers by an emphatic 2-0 margin. As a youth call-up, Sandhu has only played 4 games for Indo FC and has managed to score 5 goals! Ryan Glanville, on the other hand, scored all 3 goals for West Van FC in its all-important 3-2 victory over the Eagles. For their excellent performances, SAHIL SANDHU and RYAN GLANVILLE will each receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-02-21.
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WEEK #20—2008-02-05
Only two Premier Division games were played this past weekend as the accumulation of snow in most areas forced the postponement of the other 5 matches. The heavily-favoured Vancouver Firefighters dropped out of the race for the Group ‘A’ title by dropping a 3-2 decision to the desperate AFC Leopards, while Sporting Club of Vancouver edged Indo FC—also by a 3-2 margin—in a match featuring the top team in the VMSL against the Group ‘B’ bottom feeders. The two results proved without a shadow of a doubt the fact that parity does exist in the Premier Division of the VMSL!
On Friday evening, at Mercer Stadium in New Westminster, the AFC Leopards hosted the hot-and-cold Vancouver Firefighters in a Group ‘A’ battle. The match was very important to both teams but for totally different reasons. The Firemen needed the victory to remain in contention for the group championship—and perhaps the VMSL title—while the Leopards are still trying desperately to climb out of last place and thus avoid relegation. After a very exciting 90 minutes of non-stop action, the Leopards kept their hopes of staying in the Premier Division alive by walking away with a 3-2 victory. The Firefighters got off to a great start and took a 1-0 lead right from the opening kick-off as Niall Thompson sent Trevor Rosenscrans flying in on goal. From the edge of the penalty area, Rosenscrans hammered a blistering shot towards the Leopards goal, a shot that was inadvertently deflected into the net by former Whitecap Diaz Kambere. The Leopards responded with grit to the early goal and started pressing with remarkable determination in search of the equalizer. On the other hand, the Firemen laid back and eventually paid the price as AFC was able to knot the score midway through the first half when Adrian Kekec picked up a rebound from a Desmond Tachie shot and calmly deposited the ball into the back of the net for the tying goal. Shortly thereafter, Tachie and Kekec reversed roles as Tachie was able to convert a great pass from Kekec into the go-ahead goal. Early in the second half, Tachie rounded out an impressive individual performance by scoring what proved to be the winning goal by beating several defenders before firing an excellent shot past the Firefighters’ goalkeeper. Late in the game, Greg Pears converted a penalty kick into the Firemen’s second goal, but it was a classic case of “too little, too late” as the Leopards held on for the well-deserved victory. As mentioned earlier, the loss ends the Firefighters’ aspirations of winning the Group ‘A’ title, while the Leopards are now 3 points clear of last place in the same group.
On Saturday evening, at Minoru Park in Richmond, Sporting Club of Vancouver edged the desperate Indo FC by a 3-2 margin in a match that fully lived up to its expectations. Indo FC had the edge in play in a scoreless first half with former Whitecap David Morris coming closest to scoring when—on a breakaway—he watched painfully as his shot bounced off the goalpost. Early in the second half, Indo FC took the lead as youth call-up Sahil Sandhu continued his hot streak by scoring his third VMSL goal on a fine individual effort. Sporting Club, however, bounced back tenaciously and quickly scored twice to gain possession of the lead. First, Meysam Soltani received a long through ball from Mike Gomes and proceeded to set up Mike Wooldridge who, without a moment’s hesitation, placed the ball into the net for the tying goal. Then, Devon Greenside set up Ryan Dormer for the go-ahead goal with another excellent through ball. However, at the 80th minute mark, Indo FC tied things up on yet another excellent individual effort by 18-year old Sahil Sandhu. At this point, Indo FC threw caution to the wind and started pressing frantically for the all-important go-ahead goal. Paul Bolina came very close to accomplishing Indo’s goal when he saw his shot cleared off the line by defender Mike Gomes—after goalkeeper Brian Brum had made a great save on a Sahil Sandhu shot. As luck would have it, however, it was Sporting Club that took advantage of Indo’s reckless attacking when, on a counter-attack, Meysam Soltani converted a fine cross by Ali Kashfia into the winning goal. The loss leaves Indo FC mired in last place in the Group ‘B’ table, 3 points behind the idle Westside FC and with only one game remaining.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: AFC LEOPARDS for their impressive performance in defeating the aspiring Vancouver Firefighters by a 3-2 margin. The Leopards bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit and, led by Desmond Tachie’s goalscoring ability, were able to capture the all-important 3 points. Although the victory does not guarantee that the Leopards will avoid relegation, it does help a great deal towards that quest!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: AFC LEOPARDS’ forward DESMOND TACHIE for his remarkable performance in his team’s all-important 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Firefighters. Tachie contributed immensely to the Leopards’ victory by scoring two wonderful goals. He also played a huge part in the Leoapards’ other goal as it was his shot that was saved by the Firemen’s goalkeeper, leading to Adrian Kekec scoring on the rebound. For his excellent performance, DESMOND TACHIE will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-02-14.
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WEEK #19—2008-01-29
Only four of the 7 scheduled Premier Division games were played this past weekend since 3 games were postponed because of the heavy snow fall. The only issue that was resolved—and a minor one at that—was the fact that newly-promoted Delta Metro Blaze is now officially out of the running for the Group ‘A’ title, due to its 3-1 loss at the hands of the visiting Norvan Eagles. However, 4 teams remain in contention for the Group ‘A’ championship, West Van FC, Firefighters FC, ICSF Inter, and Columbus-Clan FC. Ironically, Columbus—having played only 15 games—is also in the relegation zone, needing at least one point to remain in the Premier Division.
On Friday evening, at Point Grey School in Vancouver, West Van FC solidified its slim hold on first place in the Group ‘A’ table by beating Westside FC by an emphatic 3-0 margin. The West Van boys came storming out of the starting blocks and quickly took a well-deserved lead as Jesse Fetterley scored his 11th goal of the year off a corner kick by Milad Rahmati. The young and quick Westside team bounced back with vigour and came close to tying things up on two separate occasions. First, Colin Jones raced in all goal only to be thwarted by a last-moment tackle by veteran (and new father!) Trevor Short. Secondly, goalkeeper Marco Durante came up with a big save on an excellent shot by Andrew Cooke to preserve West Van’s one-goal lead. Early in the second half, West Van added its second goal as Ryan Glanville was