All seven teams were in action this weekend as the club enjoyed an unbeaten weekend recording five victories and two ties which were sufficient to ensure that all five mens teams moved/stayed in first place in their divisions and the ladies teams are now both in 3rd place but only one point out of first. A satisfying start to the season for the entire club and we offer our congratulations to all the players and coaches but let’s remember that this is where we want to be at the end of the season.

On Saturday, top of the division, Surrey United visited Burnaby Canadians who were the only team to record a victory against Surreyso far this season. In the opening period of play United’s strikers Shawn Blakeway and Todd Stauber each had a good opportunity to score but saw their efforts well saved by Burnaby keeper Cory Breure. Burnaby took the lead at the sixteenth minute mark when their defender Ed Bradford outjumped the Surrey defenders at a corner-kick to head the ball into the top corner of the net. Burnaby seemed content to defend their slim lead and basically for the balance of the game absorbed some tremendous pressure as Surrey came surging forward time after time. United ‘s Stauber presented midfielder Cory Janzen with a great chance for the equalizer but Janzen fired his shot against the upright and the ball rebounded to a Burnaby defender who completed the clearance. Surrey finally tied up the game at the seventy fifth minute when substitute Rob Wilson headed home a Clayton Dobbin corner-kick to set the stage for an exciting finale. However, Burnaby hung on for the point with some desperate defending, booting the ball repeatedly out of bounds, as Surrey piled on the pressure.

In the division one game between the same two teams the following day the young United players took a physical beating from their older opponents and ended up tying a game they should have easily won. United enjoyed most of the early territorial advantage in the early part of the first half and took the early lead at when Reshad Etminan hammered home a great left wing cross from Maarten Koorn. United had to wait until five minutes before the interval to increase their lead thanks to some quick thinking by keeper Jason McKenzie whose long throw out sent Ivan Estrada racing clear of the defence and Ivan calmly beat the keeper with a low shot from ten yards. United lost their focus and sense of purpose in the second frame and in the span of fifteen minutes surrendered three unanswered goals to present the home team with a 3-2 lead. However, with five minutes remaining United rallied to earn a point and preserve their unbeaten record when Estrada dove full length to bravely head home substitute Seth Campana’s left wing cross.

The divison two mens team also had a tough away battle with mid-table Bombastic but emerged safely with a 2-0 victory that when coupled with some other results saw them gain top spot in the division, which they won last season. Unite struck early when Avi Yakub finished off a perfect cross from Trevor Tagieff with a close range shot that he tucked into the corner of the net. Dale Kahri also added once again on an assist from Tagieff. The goal maintained Kahri’s goal a game record so far this season and took his individual tally for the season to five goals. In the second half United took their foot off the gas and became very casual in their play. In fact, if it wasn’t for some strong defending by Jay Robinson and fine goalkeeping by Kevin Woronchuk, who registered his fourth shut-out of the season, the outcome of the game could well have been quite different.

In ladies division one action the “Soccer Gods” were looking after the United ladies in what was perhaps their most erratic performance of the season.

They survived thanks to a combination of good skill and good fortune to win their fourth game of the season 4-3 in what literally became a case of the last shot wins. United started quickly and in the first minute of play a superbly placed through ball by Nicole Gertsen caught the Langley defenders off guard and United scoring sensation Kaitlin Clarke raced onto the pass and clinically steered her shot past the advancing keeper and into the net. United spurred on by their great start controlled most of the play but Langley tightened up in defence to deny United any further clear cut chances in the half. Langley looked dangerous on the counter-attack against a United defence that was missing two of it’s regular starters. After ten minutes of second half action Langley pulled level when they scored form close range after United had failed to clear a corner-kick. United bounced back to take the lead when a free-kick from Kerry Young was sent deep into the Langley penalty area where Danielle Jackle’s perfectly timed run enabled her to lob the bouncing ball over the keeper into the wide open net to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. However, some confusion in the United defensive ranks allowed the home side to strike quickly and grab two goals to regain the lead.

With less than fifteen minutes left to play the stage was set for Gertsen and Clarke to cue the dramatic comeback. In the 76th minute, United gained possession in the Langley end and on a beautiful three way passing play starting form left midfield Jackle found Ellen Malterer who laid the ball off to Gertsen who then one timed it high into the net past the outstretched arms of the keeper to level the scores. After sustaining some further pressure from Langley a long clearing ball out of defence by Surrey was saved from going out of play near midfield and was kept alive by an outstanding effort from Kim Ashford whose sliding pass forward found Clarke who raced onto the pass and cut inside towards the goal and then slid the ball past charging keeper who got a piece of the shot but could only watch as the ball agonizingly rolled over the line into the far corner of the net to seal the victory for United.

It was Kaitlin Clarke’s third two goal game performance of the season and seventh goal in her last four games that earns her this week’s (and her second of the season) player of the week award. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the month for Dinner for Two.

In Ladies premier action the visiting Norvan team held United off the score sheet for the first twenty minutes of play but after the first goal was conceded it was always going to be a case of how many United would win by and it ended up being 7-0. Nadia Guglielmini started the scoring spree with a great left wing solo effort that saw her beat two defenders before cutting inside and beating the keeper with a low right foot shot. Ten minutes later Kate Qually fired home the second from close range converting a Martina Holan cross. Holan then helped herself to a goal form thanks to a net set-up involving Diana Artuso to complete the first half scoring. In the second half Holan added two further goals to complete her hat-trick and United got further markers from Artuso and substitute Jill Stewart. Midfielders Sara Maglio and Geri Donnelly both had fine games setting up many of the scoring opportunities and they both finished the game with three assists each.

In Masters action United extended their win streak to seven games and maintained their perfect record with a convincing 5-1 away victory against Aldergrove. Regrettably details of the goalscorers are not available at the time of writing.