Mens PREMIER

Surrey United Firefighters went into the opening game of the season without the combined striking services of Niall Thompson, Rizal Ganief and Angus Burke and their absence proved costly as the newly promoted Pegasus tied Surrey United team in a scoreless game at Newton Athletic Park on Friday. However, the game was far from boring and had plenty of exciting incidents in a strongly contested encounter. Surrey United had plenty of territorial advantage in the first half and won a total of 7 corners and free-kicks which were all superbly flighted into the penalty area by midfielder Tyler Rosenlund but no one was able to get the necessary touch to deflect them into the net. Pegasus had one effort cleared off the line by Jeff Skinner after when United keeper Paul Shepherd was beaten on the play. At the start of the second half United had three breakaway chances involving Cam Wilson but his shots were narrowly wide of the target. As the game wore on Pegasus came more into the play and it was left to United keeper Shepherd to produce two terrific saves to earn United a point and emerge as a player of the week contender.

Mens CAT “A” DIVISION

Last season’s division two Cat champions found the opposition a little tougher in the higher division but only had themselves to blame for not taking all the points as they squandered a host of scoring chances that saw them tie Wickham 1-1 at Cloverdale Athletic on Sunday. After enjoying most of the territorial advantage they opened the scoring in the 30th minute when Ezra Fenwick scored after good set-up play between Billy Wilson and Brad Phillips. In the second half United hit the woodwork twice and missed on two breakaway chances before conceding a late penalty kick which the visitors tucked away to earn a share of the points.

Mens CAT “B” DIVISION 

The young players on the brand new Surrey United “B” CAT team played its first ever game as a team in adult soccer and came away with a great result beating Tssawwassen Royals team 2-1. United started brightly and after only five minutes striker Lenny Longley broke around two defenders, and fired a fierce shot which struck the post and rebounded to safety. United continued to dominate the early play and saw two further efforts by Corey Bergen & Krisztii Turcsanyi cleared off the line. Finally, United deservedly broke the deadlock in the 35th minute when Longley pounced on a long punt from United keeper Paul Moreau, went around the last defender and tucked his shot into the bottom right corner of the net. Tssawwassen tied up the game, against the run of play, in the 60th min but United were in no mood to settle for a tie and came roaring back. Fifteen minutes later they were awarded a penalty kick after Longley was taken down in the box. Longley took the kick himself and calmly slotted home his second goal of the game which this time stood up as the game winner and earned himself a Player of the Week nomination.

Ladies PREMIER

Surrey United started their league title defence with an emphatic 9-1 victory over a newly formed Langley team. United’s ladies were far from close to top form as they cantered to a 3-0 half-time lead and then blasted six more in the second half. Sharon Lehnert led the way with three goals with braces from Kate Qually and Megan Blaker and singletons from Nicole Stewart and Bianca Wilkinson.

Ladies DIVISION ONE

Surrey United got off to a great start to the season beating the Richmond Rumble 3-1 at Cloverdale Athletic park on Sunday with a come form behind victory. Despite enjoying much of the early play, Surrey United gave up the first goal in the 19th minute caused by a breakdown in coverage which allowed the Richmond striker to move in unchallenged to the top of the box and hit a hard rising shot over the out stretched hands of Surrey United's goal tender. United answered back in the 35th minute when a cross into the box by Amrita Sandhu was fumbled by the Richmond' keeper and was slammed into the back of the net by Sam Pither but the goal was ruled offside by the official and Surrey United ended the first half down by a goal.  The second half proved to be the Kaitlyn Rowbotham show who hit the woodwork twice before finally finding the back of the net to level the scores at the 65th minute mark. This was followed just ten minutes later by Kaitlyn getting the go ahead goal and what proved to be the eventual game winner and also earn herself a nomination for Player of the Week. Kaitlyn hammered a powerful shot into the bottom corner of the net after great set-up work by both Rosie Gryma and Mary Ferguson ball through to a charging Kaitlyn, who struck the ball into the lower corner past the Richmond keeper. The final goal of the match and insurance marker by Surrey United came off a great header by Sandra into the lower right corner of Richmond's net off a well struck corner kick ball from Sukhpreet Grewal. The margin of victory could and perhaps should have been greater as Surrey United's strikers peppered the Richmond keeper and hit the cross bar and post on several occasions.