With the league season finalized some four weeks ago it is a fantastic achievement for the club to still have four of our adult teams involved in the provincial cup play but it was a weekend of highs and lows.

The quest for the men’s provincial open cup resumed on Saturday with a nail biting exciting penalty kick win featuring two VMSL teams that saw Surrey United emerge as the victors over Sapperton to advance to the Provincial Cup Final at Swanguard Stadium on Sunday May 15th. United opened the game confidently, enjoying the majority of the offensive play and deservedly took the lead in the thirty fifth minute when midfielder Todd Stauber volleyed home from fifteen yards after Shawn Blakeway had nodded down Dave Hleucka’s left wing cross.

In the early part of the second half United failed to capitalize on two great opportunities to increase their lead. Firstly, a great flowing move saw Ryan Hopp break down the left and fire over a brilliant cross which saw Shawn Blakeway come racing in at the far post only for him to mistime the header and fire it wide of the target. Then, just three minutes later Hopp and Stauber combined well to send Niall Thompson clear but he also pulled his low shot wide of the target.

From that point forward, Sapperton took the game to Surrey and applied sustained pressure on United’s defence which eventually cracked in the 75th minute when Sapperton stalwart Kevin Hearne headed a left wing cross into the net off the inside of the post. It was no surprise to anyone that these evenly matched sides went into overtime and subsequently penalty kicks. Somewhat, ironically the pattern of the overtime was a replica of regulation time with Surrey maintaining the edge in the opening frame and then Sapperton dominating the second period of overtime. United defender Martin Schaefer, who had moved into midfield, edged Surrey ahead in the first overtime period when he ran onto a great through ball from Stauber and hammered a low left foot shot past Sapperton keeper Breure.

With five minutes of the second overtime remaining and with Surrey forced back on their heels Sapperton levelled the scores with the best goal of the game when Matt Ormerod’s timed his run to perfection and his glancing header flew into the top corner of the net. The scene was set for penalty kicks which featured the two biggest and the two best keepers in the VMSL with Drew Smiley and Cory Breure each carrying the hopes of the their two teams on their shoulders.

When United missed the first and Sapperton scored their first it looked to be a huge advantage in favour of the New Westminster based team. However, to be honest three great kicks by Surrey from Gareth Wilkshire, Stauber and Hopp and two misses by Sapperton and a great save by Smiley won the day for the Surrey side who return to the final for the third time in the last seven years.

The Ladies premier team faced rivals Coquitlam City in the Provincial Cup final at Mercer Stadium in New Westminster and successfully defended their title by repeating as champions with a convincing 4-1 win that sends them back to the National Championships again which will this time will be held in Calgary in October 2005. United dominated every facet of the game from the very first kick to the last and if it wasn’t for two cross-bars and a generous penalty kick awarded to the them by the referee Coquitlam could easily have suffered an even heavier defeat. United set the tone early on but received a set-back after five minutes when captain Andrea Sumner was scythed down just as she delivered a defence splitting pass to send Martina Holan-Franko racing through on a clear breakaway. However, instead of allowing the advantage the referee blew the whistle for the foul. Sumner was carried off the field and was able to take no further part in the game but United had an ace up their sleeve bringing on National team player Randee Hermus as substitute. From the resulting free-kick Holan-Franko thumped a powerful shot against the cross-bar.

Both teams played a lot of long ball but it was United who were bigger, faster stronger and more powerful than their opponents and they won virtually every contest. In the twentieth minute, United broke the deadlock when Hermus rose, majestically, above all opponents to head home Sara Maglio’s corner-kick. Surrey continued to stifle the three Coquitlam forwards with some aggressive defence and when the ball got played forward for United, Natalie Halcro and Holan-Franko tormented the opponents with some powerful running. United hit the cross-bar again but then increased their lead at the 40th minute when Hermus weaved her way past two opponents before hammering a low shot into the corner of the net from twelve yards.

With virtually no time remaining in the half Coquitlam received a lifeline when they were awarded a generous penalty for a rather innocuous challenge and they converted the opportunity to reduce the deficit. While, the goal injected some new life into Coquitlam and they enjoyed a little more territorial success United’s dominance in the key areas remained evident. Then midway through the half after a free-kick United’s Halcro deep in her own half sent a long ball for left back Kate Qually to run onto and with Qually clearly winning the footrace she was brought down from behind by the Coquitlam defender who was rightly red carded on the play.

Five minutes later United iced the victory with two goals in three minutes. Some determined work by substitute Megan Blaker saw her rob the defender of possession, break down the right and then fire over hammered home an inch perfect cross for Martina Holan-Franko to skillfully volley home from close range. Three minutes later United iced the victory when again after Burnaby failed to fully clear the danger Hermus pounced on the loose ball on the edge of the penalty area to hammer a low left foot shot into the corner of the net to complete her hat-trick and a remarkable performance where she clearly demonstrated her national team technical and leadership qualities.

The Masters team sadly could not repeat last year’s Provincial cup win and sadly lost the semi-final to Surrey Rangers on the turf at Newton Athletic Park on Sunday by the narrowest of margins losing 1-0 on a headed goal ten minutes from the end of regulation.

The game by all accounts was a dour affair with both teams rather unsuccessfully trying to adopt a long ball policy where both team’s respective defences dominated and where midfield players for the most part were onlookers.

The ladies Under 21 team returned to action, after a four week lay off to play their provincial cup qualifier on Sunday against Division One Norvan at Griffin Park turf field in North Vancouver and they emerged as comfortable 4-1 winners. United seized the early initiative their long layoff took immediate advantage of opportunity of the extra open space created in the sixth minute of play when Arianna Torabian lifted a great ball over the Norvan defence for Krystle Gauvin whose first time pass sent Ally Pross clear and she beat the keeper with a low shot from fifteen yards. o take the cross ball from Krystle and beat the Norvan keeper. Ten minutes later United added a second when midfielder Angelica Singh sent a high cross to the far post where Lexi Iggulden headed it back for Gauvin to score from close range. United’s third goal came at the 30 minute mark and was started by started by Erin Johnson who beat two opponents and then threaded a perfect through ball into the path of charging outside midfielder Kyla McMillan who tucked a low hard shot past the keeper and into the far corner of the net.

United added a fourth before the interval came off a set play corner kick by Nicole Stewart who delivered a perfectly struck ball to the far post where Iggulgen out-jumped everyone to head home a glorious header from the top of the six yard box. United took their foot off the gas in the second half where Norvan notched a consolation goal from the penalty spot following another phantom refereeing call.

We selected Randee Hermus of the Ladies’s premier team as this week’s Player of the Week for coming on as a substitute in the Provincial Cup Final and then scoring three goals to lead her team to an emphatic 4-1 victory over Coquitlam City which enabled her team to repeat as Provincial champions. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the monthly prize of for Dinner for Two.