The weekend got off to a great start on Friday night with our ladies premier team in action on the Charles Best turf in Coquitlam where they took on and beat arch rivals Coquitlam City 2-0. The win gave our ladies a five point lead over Coquitlam in the league standings plus we also have a game in hand and realistically though not mathematically the United victory eliminates Coquitlam from the league title race. The game attracted a good Friday night crowd who were treated to a fiercely contested game featuring some of the best amateur ladies soccer in the lower mainland and for that matter the entire country.

Coquitlam enjoyed some early pressure but were continually repelled by United’s solid back four where Bianca Wilkinson and Andrea Sumner were in particularly outstanding form. United gradually gained control of the game and took the lead a minute before half-time when Sara Maglio pounced onto Chelsey Hannesson’s cross and hammered a left foot shot past the Coquitlam keeper. The timely goal was a big boost to the United goals who were a lot more assertive in the second half. United strived to notch the insurance marker and piled on the pressure but they were denied by two fine saves and also the cross-bar which Megan Blaker struck with a vicious shot from the top of the eighteen. United’s defence suffered a major blow half way through the second half, when they lost centre-back and captain Andrea Sumner with a serious knee injury, once again occurring on the turf having just recovered from the same fate at last year’s provincial cup-final in May. United brought on substitute Nadia Guglielmini who slotted into the back line admirably allowing United’s defence to continue to dominate, which allowed their goalkeeper Theresa Nuttall to be rarely tested with anything other than routine crosses and long range shots in eventually securing her fourth shut-out of the season. With ten minutes of the game remaining, United deservedly increased their lead when substitute Natalie Halcro sent Martina Franko racing through and the national team player made no mistake with her clinical finish.

In other ladies action, on Sunday there was some contrasting fortunes with the “B” team securing their first win of the season beating Langley United 5-1 at Cloverdale Athletic Park whilst the previously unbeaten “C” team found themselves with only nine players and suffered the consequences losing heavily by the margin of 6-1 to the Langley Devils with Nicole Stewart getting United’s lone marker from the penalty spot. The “B” team enjoyed better fortunes and took the lead at home on an early goal when Carly Dupas headed Ellen Malterer’s cross into the net from close range. Langley enjoyed plenty of pressure and created some good scoring chances but found stand-in keeper Lindsay Chomechko in outstanding form tipping two great efforts over the bar and tipped a low shot past the post. At the other end, United increased their lead with Malterer assisting again on the goal but with Kim Ashford this time providing the finishing touch. Malterer provided some great finishing of her own and added United’s third goal just before half-time volleying home a right wing cross into the bottom corner of the net. She then notched two more in the second half to complete her hat-trick and round out a three goal two assist performance. Shannon Douglas deserves special mention for her dominant midfield play and her tireless effort and three assists which was very instrumental in securing the win. Shana Bains took over in net at half time and produced some fine saves as Langley pressed forward but regrettably she was unable to preserve the shut-out when with five minutes remaining her defenders left her stranded and she was unable to prevent the Langley forward from scoring from close range.

In Men’s premier action this weekend Surrey United kept up the pressure on the other first placed challengers by beating Burnaby Canadians 5-2 at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Saturday. The Burnaby team had only surrendered six goals in their previous six games but seemed unsure in defence in this game right from the opening minutes.

Surrey took the lead after ten minutes when midfielder Todd Stauber broke down the right and then squared the ball inside for teenage call up Harpreet Khakh to hammer a twenty yard right foot shot into the top corner of the net. Burnaby looked dangerous on the counter-attack with Mike Masi, Gordon Chin and Lucas Cimoszko all combining to create some problems for the usually secure United backline. The visitors levelled the scores after twenty minutes when United keeper Drew Smiley failed to handle a routine cross allowing Burnaby’s Jacoboni to score from close range. While, a disappointing blow the Surrey team maintained their composure admirably and continued to take the game to Burnaby. Surrey regained in the lead at the 30minute mark when midfielder Clayton Dobbin whipped a brilliant left foot free-kick into the far corner of the net after the defensive wall had been distracted by Steve Millar’s off the ball run.

United turned up the intensity level in the second half and surged forward with some eye-catching attacking soccer. United striker, Shawn Blakeway should have been awarded a penalty after he was wrestled to the ground by two defenders but the referee denied the Surrey claims. However, five minutes later Surrey increased their lead when a brilliant pass by Stauber sent United striker Ryan Hopp racing through and he finished well by calmly chipping the ball into the net. Ten minutes later, Dobbin this time turned provider, when he broke down the left and his precisely measured low cross gave Hopp an easy tap-in from close range. Blakeway rounded out the United scoring collecting a pass from Dave Hileman and then turning quickly to hammer a low shot into the corner of the net. Surrey continued to create more chances but failed to add to their tally due to some over-elaboration on the ball. The final goal of the game came at the 85th minute when the hard working Burnaby forward Cimoszko collected the ball, turned quickly and hammered a glorious left-foot drive into the top corner of the net.

On Saturday United’s young division one squad suffered its second defeat of the season losing 4-2 at home to an older Burnaby Canadian’s team whose physical advantage seemed to intimidate United’s youngsters. Both teams shared four goals in the first half with United twice coming from behind to equalize on goals by 16yr old Jag Gill and Jamie Spendlove who notched his fourth goal in four games which suggest he is ready for some first team action. In the second half Burnaby added two further goals as United struggled with a sub-par performance but despite that they could have still tied the game but alas Gill and Spendlove were not able to re-produce their clinical first half finishing as they each missed a good scoring opportunity.

The division two men’s teams had their toughest test of the season visiting top of the table Romania at Adanac Park in Vancouver where they ended up losing their unbeaten record going down 5-3 in an absolute see-saw cracker of a game. United took the lead after seven minutes through midfielder Dale Kahri but five minutes later the home team equalized. At the sixteen minute mark United regained the lead with a spectacular goal from Brendan Wilkinson but again the home side levelled the scores ten minutes later. A bad miscue before the half saw United surrender an own goal to give Romania the lead for the first time in the game. Chris Roots tied up the game for United in the 58th minute but again the home side struck quickly restoring their lead four minutes later. With time running out United threw caution to the wind and piled on the pressure in the last fifteen minutes of the game and had several good efforts blocked or turned aside by the home team keeper. However, united were unable to find the necessary touch and deep into injury time Romania broke clear in an outnumbered situation and added their fifth and final goal of the game.

The men’s masters team continued with their winning ways beating GEU 8-2 at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Sunday. United were in a casual care free move until the visitors woke the sleeping giants by scoring first in the tenth minute of play. United responded by notching four first half goals to take a commanding 4-1 half-time lead and then outscored their opponents by the same margin in the second half. Mike Marini led the way with three goals and Pat O’Krane, Daryl Holmes, Mark Avery, Doug Muirhead and Steve MacNicoll all got singletons.

Ellen Malterer was selected this week’s Player of the Week for her three goal and two assist performance which saw her team gain its first victory of the season with a 5-1 win. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the monthly prize of for Dinner for Two.