With all our teams in action this weekend we still have seven unbeaten teams with our mens masters being the only casualties surprisingly losing 5-3 to Aldergrove on Sunday.

Last season's Men’s three time defending Premier B divisional winners, Surrey United, opened the season with a hard fought 2-1 victory over AFC Leopards at Cloverdale Athletic Park on Saturday. The game proved to be an entertaining affair with some good soccer played at times but also there were some early season inconsistencies also evident from both teams. After a bright start by Surrey the visiting AFC team took a foothold on the game in the 20th minute when they took the lead on an outnumbered counter-attack which occurred after Surrey had squandered a corner kick opportunity. United keeper Drew Smiley made a fine save on the initial shot from AFC midfielder Steve Dickenson but the ball fell fortuitously to another unmarked AFC forward who fired a low shot into the corner of the net.

United bounced back determinedly and grabbed a deserved equalizer ten minutes later when Steve Millar’s long ball was superbly flicked by United striker Shawn Blakeway into the path of fellow forward Ryan Hopp who controlled the ball and then chipped a shot from twenty yards over the advancing keeper’s head and into the net. Five minutes later United midfielder's Todd Stauber and Matt Mori linked well in midfield on one play which finished with Stauber’s fierce shot being beaten out by AFC keeper Koostra Nair. Mori and Hopp both came close to breaking the deadlock for United in the second half and Dickenson had two good chances to score for the visitors but he was denied on one of those chances by a brilliant save by United substitute keeper Paul Shepherd. With the game seemingly edging towards a tie, it was Surrey who seized the initiative and in the 82nd minute a criss-crossing play between Surrey strikers Jamie Spendlove and Blakeway carved out an opening for Hopp to run onto a precise pass and beat the keeper with a well placed low shot from twelve yards to give Surrey United the win and the three points.

The first division game also featured the same two teams who combined to serve up a goal fest with United recording an emphatic 7-3 victory. The action was fast and furious right from the start. United were denied the opening goal with their first shot of the game in the 2nd minute when with their keeper beaten on the play an AFC defender handled the ball on the goal-line. United were awarded a penalty shot which Dave Hleucka tucked away but surprisingly the AFC defender only received a yellow card.

After a couple more minutes of some further United pressure AFC counter-attacked quickly and a great tackle by United defender was called as a foul by the referee who showed the offending player the red card. So instead of AFC being down to 10 men it was Surrey who were forced to play a man short for the remaining 85 minutes. However, the injustice only served to fire up the Surrey team who played some scintillating soccer as their young players carved open their opponents and scored four more goals in a 15 minute spell.

Hleucka added his and United’s second with a deft touch from close and 17 year old Ryan Reynolds scored his first official goal for the club five minutes later. Young striker Geoff Kosub notched another for United and then set-up a chance for veteran 19 year old and last season’s leading scorer Les Antone to blast home from close range. The referee in his generosity awarded the visitors a spot-kick after an AFC player rolled spectacularly to the ground after United keeper 16 yr old Daniel Heigh made a brave save at the feet of the oncoming forward. AFC converted the spot-kick to reduce the deficit before the interval. The teams shared four goals in the second half with United ‘s Les Antone completing the hat-trick.
The ten man United team, not surprisingly started to tire in the heat and although they still dominated the play they tended to get too fancy and too individualistic. They paid the price for their complacency by surrendering a pair of goals which distorted the true margin of difference between the two teams.

In division two men’s action United salvaged a 2-2 tie against Norvan Lions and could have achieved a better result if they had converted on their many chances. After conceding an early goal on a penalty kick United bounced back in the 20th minute when Jordan Gibbs pounced on a Nick Gollogly cross and hammered home a powerful shot. The visitors restored the lead scrambling home from close range after United failed to clear a curling free-kick. United tied up the game when they were awarded a penaly shot and the dependable United midfielder Dale Kahri made no mistake from the spot. The second half featured plenty of action but no further goals and the home team were left to reflect on their missed opportunities as the reason they did not secure all the points.

In masters action our mens team failed to win their opening match of the season for the second straight season losing this time 5-3 to Aldergrove United in a game which they dominated and could have won apart from some casual lapses and two red cards. United started the game in sparkling manner and completely dominated the early going and the only surprise was that they only had one goal to show for their efforts.

Striker Daryl Holmes hammered home from close range to give United an early lead but then Surrey proceeded to squander a hatful of chances before the home side, against the run of play, equalized midway through the half. Ten minutes later the home team took the lead from the penalty spot after Mark Avery had been adjudged to have handled the ball inside the area. United striker Murray Howes then scored with one of his patented headers to tie up the game before the interval. In the second half things went from bad to worse when Aldergrove regained the lead when they scored with a long range effort.

On another Aldergrove breakaway Avery received a red card for a professional foul and Aldergrove scored directly from the resulting free-kick. Two minutes later, Howes also received a red card, reducing United to nine men but amazingly they still enjoyed plenty of play and even reduced the deficit when former premier stand-out Peter Hjorth celebrated his masters debut by heading home United’s third goal of the game.

This set the scene for a rousing finish and with nine men United pressed desperately for the equalizer but surrendered a late goal to Aldergrove and suffered the loss. Unfortunately, United now take on the Surrey Rangers next week and will miss the services of two key players who will have to sit out the game.

The two time defending provincial cup ladies premier team opened their season with a comfortable 5-0 victory over Westside but the performance was not as sharp as it needs to be as United get ready to depart for the Nationals in early October.

United barely got out of first gear as they built up a comfortable 3-0 lead by half time. Last season’s leading scorer Natalie Halcro opened the scoring following up on a Martina Franko shot that proved too hot for the visiting keeper to handle. Defender Bianca Wilkinson joined the play and raced onto a Sara Maglio pass and then hammered home a powerful shot into the top corner of the net. Maglio again figured in the third goal this time setting up Canadian National team member Martina Franko who hammered home from close range. In the second half United brought on Martina’s fellow national team member Randee Hermus who had a fine game and scored a pair of second half goals and narrowly missed the hat-trick which was reminiscent of her contribution in last year’s provincial cup final when she came on as substitute to score three goals in the 4-1 victory.

Last season’s ladies under 21 team made the jump to Division One (now the “C” team) and a quirk in the fixture schedule had them playing a home opener against our other division one team. Honours ended up even, as the game finished tied 2-2 thanks mainly to the brilliance of the “B” team keeper Maria Demare who at times almost single handedly kept the “C” team at bay.

The match quickly developed into two distinct styles of soccer with SU Div 1-C ladies playing a short passing/possession style system while SU Div 1-B ladies employed a strong defensive style system. Both teams ultimately took advantage of breakdowns in each others systems that resulted in them each scoring a first half goal. At the twenty minute mark Div 1-C’s Tauren Stonehouse won the ball just outside her opponents penalty area and fired a swerving shot past Demare to open the scoring. Ten minutes later the B team tied up the game when
when after a hectic goalmouth scramble “B” team striker Kim Ashford forced the ball into the net from close range from Ellen Malterer’s dangerous cross.

The second half saw the “C” team generate many scoring chances but a combination of poor finishing and heroic goalkeeping by Demare denied them on several occasions. Then completely against the run of play the “B” team took the lead when last season’s leading scorer Malterer opened this season’s account scoring with a high shot from well outside the 18 yard box that sailed over the outstretched hands of keeper Kendra Klemke. The “C” team answered back a few minutes later with what ultimate resulted in the final goal of the match which started with and ended with Nicole Stewart who moved forward to play a series of passes that took her deep into the penalty area and her precision shot from fifteen yards gave even Demare no chance of making any save.

We selected Ryan Hopp of the Mens’s premier team as this week’s Player of the Week for scoring two goals to lead his team to an important 2-1 victory over AFC Leopards. Each Weekly Winner will have their name entered into a random draw for the monthly prize of for Dinner for Two.