The weekend saw five of your seven teams in action with our Men’s Division Two and Ladies Division One both receiving byes. The five teams produced 5 wins with some emphatic margins of victory except for the Men’s and Ladies’ Premier teams who both squeaked through with the narrow victories.

The Men’s premier team visited ICFS Inter in the Imperial Cup quarter-final on Sunday and United ended up advancing to the semi-finals with a 2-1 overtime win. After teams exchanged chances throughout a scoreless first half Surrey took the lead five minutes into the second frame from a set play throw-in. Shawn Blakeway headed flick found Dave Hleucka who looped his header over the diminutive Dennis Kindel in goal for ICFS. Surrey had the ball in the net once again but it was somehow ruled offside after Dobbin’s cut-back cross was touched home by Darren Villars. The home side took advantage of this piece of good fortune and battled back tremendously. After some extensive sustained pressure Inter striker Kevin Crouch found himself clear and he hammered home a close range shot to level the scores. Inter had a couple of great chances in the latter stages of the regulation but shot wide of the net. The first period of overtime was end to end but produced no goals. In the second overtime frame Surrey got the all important goal which was a cracker. Joe Deacon’s cross was hammered on the volley, twenty yards from goal by United’s Rob Wilson and the ball rocketed into the bottom left corner of the net.

The Men’s Under 21 team played their second game in the Doug Day cup competition and won on the Turf at Cloverdale by a landslide margin of 11-0 against a Club Ireland team that could only field 10 players.The game was never in doubt from the moment the first goal entered the net as United built up a four goal lead after only sixteen minutes. Statistics showed that Evan Howard had 3 goals and two assists, Kyle Krois had 2 goals and two assists, Jacob Lensky had two goals and an assist, Chris Powell had 1 goal and 3 assists and so did Sean Kelly. Matt Osborne and Adam Blois rounded out the scoring for United and stand-in keeper Scot t Caldwell from the U/18 metro squad registered his second shut-out in successive games.

The men’s division one team followed the Under 21 game with a 4.00pm start on the Cloverdale Turf against Sapperton and ended up with an impressive 7-1 victory. The game had a familiar look about it as United raced into a four goal lead after only 15 minute. Chris Powell netted the first in the third minute of play when the Sapperton goalkeeper slid out to block a shot but the ball rebounded to Powell he calmly lobbed the ball over the keeper and into the net. United then missed two glorious chances but did increase the lead when Maarten Koorn tapped home the ball from close range after the keeper had failed to hold onto another cross. Sapperton were in tatters at the back and five minutes later youth player CJ Jhooty clipped home a close range cut-back from 15 year old Jacob Lensky deceived two defenders with a tricky run to the goal-line.

Kai Edwards added the fourth steering home a neat through pass from Maarten Koorn. From this point forward United switched off their concentration and let the opposition back into the game. Sapperton seized the opportunity and pulled a goal back before half-time to reduce the deficit and would have had two more in the second half had it not been for two outstanding saves by United keeper Jason McKenzie. Then with fifteen minutes remaining Maarten Koorn skillfully converted a free-kick from twenty five yards that swerved and dipped over the defensive wall and into the corner of the net. Kai Edwards completed a satisfactory debut with two late goals to notch a hat-trick in his first game with Under 21 striker Evan Howard assisting on both opportunities.

On Sunday the men’s masters proved that if you like lots of goals Cloverdale was the place to be on the weekend. The first placed masters were pitted against bottom placed Mission in the Challenge Cup and the difference between the two sides was evidenced by the 8-0 score-line. United methodically dispatched the visitors with some assured play and with some super individual goals. The opening goal of the game, a thirty yard howlitzer from Dave Ellenwood was probably the pick of the bunch and deserved to stand up as the game winner. George Paille, Mike Marini, Murray Howes, Dave Harkisson and Kelly Bey (2) did the scoring for United.

The ladies premier team had one of their least memorable outings and struggled to overcome a mid-table Norvan team by a margin of 3-2 thanks to a late goal by Kate Qually that might yet prove to be critical in United’s league slim championship bid. United have now finished their league campaign and are one point ahead of second place Coquitlam who have one game remaining away to third place Sportstown UBC. A loss by Coquitlam will leave United as the league champions. United started the game slowly and soon found themselves a goal down but tied up the game midway through the opening half when Sara Maglio successfully converted a penalty shot which was awarded after Bianca Wilkinson was chopped down in the penalty area. Ten minutes later United grabbed the lead when Jill Stewart set up Sharon Lehnert who calmly slotted home the go ahead goal. In the second half United poured on the heat and Norvan managed to defend well and were still dangerous on the counter-attack. In fact, they tied up the game ten minutes into the second frame on a quick counter that saw the United defence outnumbered. United responded well but after hitting the cross-bar on two separate occasions it looked as though they would be denied the victory until Qually pounced on a through ball from Toby McDonald to get the all important winner.

Rob Wilson whose outstanding goal that clinched a provincial cup berth wins this week’s player of the week award. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the month for Dinner for Two.