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The third week of the season kicked
off on Friday night at 9.00pm when our Masters team thumped the
Langley All Blacks 7-0 at Langley Municipal Oval to register their
first win of the season. United dominated all phases of the game
on their way to building up a 4-0 half time lead thanks to a cracking
pair of goals from Doug Muirhead, followed by singletons from Dave
Harkisson and Daryl Holmes. United maintained the pressure in the
second half playing some flowing football and got further goals
from Murray Howes, Bill Muirhead and Mike Marini. Angelo Bonato
registered the shut-out.
On Saturday with both the division one men’s and the Under
21 team team both playing at the same time it stretched our playing
resources to the limits.
The division one team featured a couple of premier players, div
one and div two players and a sprinkling of Under 21 players. In
division one action the men squeaked out their third win of the
season edging past the AFC Leopards 1-0 thanks to a first half Chris
Powell penalty shot awarded after the same player had been brought
down in the box. In the second half the team created a number of
chances but failed to score the insurance marker which thankfully
they did not need. Dave Morris of the division two team had an outstanding
game in midfield as did fellow midfielder Chris Powell and keeper
Serge Djekanovic looked very accomplished in registering the impressive
shut-out and the victory extended the division one team’s
win streak to three games and sent them to the top of the division.
The mens Under 21 squad was forced to play with ten men until the
arrival of keeper Taylor Weakes at half-time. Despite the ten men
it was United who dominated most of the first half but they failed
to capitalize on their many chances and then to make matters worse
surrendered a late goal to trail 1-0 at the interval. The addition
of the extra man proved to be critical as United surged forward
to score three goals with two coming from the golden boot of man
of the match Les Antone and a single coming from Harpreet Khakh
with a header. United surrendered a late goal but easily hung on
for a well deserved 3-2 victory. The win sent the team to the top
of the standings in the Under 21 division.
In second division action, United surrendered an early goal to
the visiting Club Ireland Hibs in the fifteenth minute. However
they tied up the game five minutes before the interval when substitute
Adam Blois finished off a Brendan Wilkinson pass. Twelve minutes
into the second half Wilkinson notched what proved to be the winner
and secured the victory that extended the Division two’s win
streak to three games and sent them to the top of their division.
The premier team prevented the men’s program from completing
the sweep this weekend losing 2-1 in a top of the table clash against
AFC Leoprads at south Memorial Park in Vancouver.While territorially
the first half was fairly even it was Unirted who ended up with
the more clear cut chances but Jackson Reeve and Dave Hleucka both
missed on good heading opportunities and Cam Wilson had a fierce
drive turned past the post. Early in the second half both Niall
Thompson and Cam Wilson for United both flicked headers wide of
the target but then the pivotal moment of the match came when Thompson
received his second yellow at the 60th minute placing the United
squad short-handed for the balance of the game .AFC took full advantage
and scored two goals in the next fifteen minutes to take a stranglehold
on the game. Surrey's ten men fought back gallantly and reduced
the deficit from the penalty spot when Cam Wilson converted after
being dumped for the original infraction. United staged a stirring
comeback and Shawn Blakeway failed to hit the target on a couple
of good opportunities and then United almost nicked a dramatic equalizer
but their claims for a blatant second penalty were denied after
Hleucka had been dragged down in the box. The final whistle came
too soon for the valiant 10 men who by this time looked very capable
of tying up the game.
On the ladies front our Womens premier team got back to winning
ways thumping SBBA 6-0 at Fleetwood Park. The contest was over early
as the women pretty much scored at will. With many of the senior
players resting for the nationals it was an ideal opportunity for
some of our younger players to get some premier action. 16year old
Carling Bassett got her first start in defence and 16year old Angelica
Singh came on as a substitute in the 20th minute. Fellow Under 21
players, Nicole Stewart and Ally Pross also got their first taste
of some premier level soccer.
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On the goalscoring front Martina Holan-Franko and Natalie Halcro
both scored twice with Sadie McLure and Randee Hermus with a thunderbolt
rounding out the scoring.
Our new Ladies Under 21 team faced Burnaby Canadians earlier in
the day and secured an excellent victory with a creditable 2-0 away
win. Burnaby enjoyed a considerable amount of the play but Kendra
Klemke denied the home team with some outstanding saves. United
the dominated the second half and hit three cross-bars before finally
breaking the deadlock in the 65th minute when keeper Kendra Klemke’s
clearance (how is that for Alliteration) found Moyra Betuzzi on
the right who crossed the ball for Pross to hammer a first time
blast into the top right corner from just outside the penalty area.
Ten minutes later United added an insurance marker when Pross fired
home a penalty shot awarded after Betuzzi had been brought down
by the Burnaby keeper. Klemke won player of the match award and
recorded her third straight shut-out as the victory extended the
team’s win streak to three games and sent them to the top
of their division.
The ladies division one team didn’t fair as well and will
be disappointed to lose 3-2 at home to Surdel especially after establishing
a two goal lead. United opened the scoring midway through the first
half when Kerry Young fired home an Ellen Malterer corner-kick.
When Malterer chased down keeper Julia Baker’s long kick and
hammered the ball past the visiting keeper for United’s second
goal early in the second half it was starting to look like a good
day for the women. However, they proceeded to toss the game away
surrendering three goals in the last twenty five minutes to hand
the visitors a victory.
Les Antone of the Mens Under 21 team who scored two goals and set-up
another has been selected as this week’s player of the week.
Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw
for the monthly prize of for Dinner for Two.
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