It's back......
WEEK #1—2008-09-09
The 2008-2009 season got off to a flying start this past weekend as all six Premier Division games were highly-contested and hard fought. However, only one major upset was recorded as the perennially powerful Columbus-Clan FC dropped a 2-1 decision to the underdog Metro-Ford Wolves in a match played on Saturday at Town Centre Stadium in Coquitlam. The other results were somewhat predictable, although the defending Premier Division champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, struggled to defeat the upstart Serbian White Eagles by a 1-0 margin.
The VMSL league champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, met the newly-promoted Serbian White Eagles on Friday evening at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby and eventually walked away with a narrow 1-0 victory. The White Eagles had gained a last minute promotion to the Premier Division due to the fact that the Vancouver Firefighters unexpectedly withdrew from the VMSL just before the league’s kick-off. The first half of the game provided the numerous spectators with a lot of exciting action and numerous excellent scoring opportunities at both ends of the pitch. Despite this fact, the first 45 minutes of play remained scoreless as both goalkeepers, Sporting’s Brian Brum and the White Eagles’ Jovan Lucic, made some phenomenal saves. Early in the second half, however, Sporting took the lead when young Ben Hunt capped off an excellent individual performance as he headed home an impeccable cross by veteran Mike Gomes for what proved to be the match winner. It should also be mentioned that the White Eagles’ central defenders—Savo Milenic and Miso Rakita—had excellent games as they held the vaunted Sporting Club’s attack to one goal during the entire 90 minutes of play.
Also on Friday evening, at Vancouver Technical School, the heavily-favoured ICSF Inter spoiled Richmond Club Ireland’s Premier Division debut by beating the newly-promoted “Legends” by a rather comfortable 3-1 margin. Very early in the match, Inter almost scored when Cristiano Tropeano was sent in on goal on a breakaway by a patented Joseph Marrello pass. Unfortunately for Inter, however, Tropeano’s shot went wide of the mark. Tropeano managed to miss a couple of other glorious scoring opportunities before RCIU scored the opening goal midway through the first half when Chris Jarvie converted a great cross from Terry Bell to give his team the lead. Just before the halftime whistle, newly-signed Nick Seddon restored parity for Inter as unleashed a rocket of a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner of the net. Midway through the second half, Andrew Corazza toe-poked the ball past goalkeeper Matt Clayton for the winning goal. Late in the match, another newcomer—Josh Bennett—sealed the victory for ICSF on a great volley. Richmond’s centre midfielder, Justin Student, had a fine game—albeit in a losing cause.
On Saturday, at Simon Fraser University, Delta WFC hosted West Van FC in a match that could be categorized as “Youth versus Experience”. The very young Delta boys held their own for the first half—during which they surrendered only one goal—but fell apart during the second half and eventually ended up losing by a 4-0 margin. West Van took the lead midway through the first half when newly-signed Meysam Soltani finished off a fine cross from Jesse Fetterley. The skillful, but inexperienced, Delta team fought hard throughout the rest of the first half but failed to score the equalizer against a very tough and composed West Van defence. The second half told a totally different story as the former Trollers tightened their marking and increased the level of their physical play. Leading the way were veteran defenders Trevor Short and Nico Berg, as well as young Leo Nash, whose crunching tackles set the tone of the match in the second half. Meysam Soltani added West Van’s, and his, second goal early in the second half, putting the game out of Delta’s reach. Two other West Van newcomers, Taku Bradshaw and Desmond Tachie, combined to score the third goal as Bradshaw set up Tachie with an excellent pass. Shortly thereafter, Jesse Fetterley put the last nail in Delta’s coffin when he finished off the scoring on a fine pass from Ryan Glanville. Delta’s young holding midfielder, Jordan Whitehead, made a very impressive Premier Division debut with an excellent performance.
Also on Saturday, at Town Centre Stadium in Coquitlam, the Metro-Ford Wolves pulled off a rather large upset by defeating the powerful Columbus-Clan FC by a narrow 2-1 margin. With newcomer Rizal Ganief in their lineup, the Italians took control of the match in the early going and took the lead midway through the first half when Ganief unleashed an amazing drive from outside the penalty area—a shot that goalkeeper Mathew Bird had no chance of stopping. A few minutes earlier, Bird had made a spectacular save on a similar shot, also by Ganief. At this point the Wolves replied with grit and determination and came close to tying things up when newcomer Omari Aldridge scored what appeared to be the equalizer only to have the goal disallowed for an offside infraction. Just before the halftime whistle, however, Metro-Ford knotted the score after some good work by Aldridge and Adam Day enabled Andrew Veer to slot the ball home from close range. In the second half, both teams took turns attacking and creating several great goalscoring opportunities. However, both goalkeepers—Columbus’ Aaron Young and Metro-Ford’s Mat Bird—pulled off some remarkable saves to keep the score tied until the last few minutes of the match. At this point, newly-signed Brian VanSchagen uncharacteristically blasted a long-range right foot shot into the top corner of the net for the Wolves’ winning goal. Just before the final whistle, Columbus came very close to tying things up as Rizal Ganief set up Tino Cucca whose shot was once again brilliantly saved by Bird. All in all, a very good performance by both teams!
The third Saturday game was played at Cloverdale Athletic Park between the revitalized Surrey United Firefighters and the visiting Westside FC. The final 1-1 score seemed to be a fair result as the home team controlled most of the play in the first half, while Westside came on strongly in the second half. Surrey United took the lead midway through the first half when Sunny Bains took advantage of a mid-field give-away, raced down the right flank and crossed a perfect ball onto the path of Phil Lensky who promptly deposited it into the back of the net, past veteran goalkeeper Mike Wicken. In the second half, the Westsiders began to take over the reins of the match and were rewarded when James Brown made a penetrating run down the left flank and found a wide-open Rick Artuso who calmly slotted the ball behind goalkeeper Mike Franks. Westside’s midfielder Keith Moore and forward Chris Mehuys played extremely well throughout the contest, while midfielder Aaron Keay and forward Peter Bergholtz also turned in outstanding performances in their first appearances for Surrey United.
The lone Sunday game was played at Hastings Bowl in Vancouver and featured Croatia SC and the Norvan Eagles. After an exciting 90 minutes of non-stop action, the Croatians came away with a well-deserved 2-1 victory over the revamped North Shore squad. The Eagles got off to a slow start and allowed Croatia to take the early lead when Maarten Koorn’s long range shot was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Mike Norris, only to have Koorn head home the rebound from close range. Shortly thereafter, Norris made another outstanding save, this time on a shot by Steve Dickinson. At this point, the Eagles responded by taking charge of the match and had several good opportunities to tie the score but shots by Josh McCaig, Brian Fowler, and Shawn Blakeway went wide of the mark. Finally, Norvan was able to equalize near the end of the first half when Blake Burgon raced down the right flank, beat a couple of defenders, and crossed the ball to a wide-open Shawn Blakeway who made no mistake with a close range shot. The Croatians took control of the match in the second half and regained the lead at the 55th minute mark when Johnny Sulentic capped off a brilliant individual performance by chipping the ball over the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Mike Norris for the winning goal. Late in the game, Norris once again came up with a brilliant save as he denied Ryan Zaharija a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity. Defensively, Croatia’s Mario Jelic, Darko Jelic, and Robin Hart had outstanding games, limiting Norvan’s attackers to a minimum of goalscoring chances.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: METRO-FORD WOLVES for their gutsy performance in defeating the overwhelming favourites—Columbus-Clan FC—by a narrow 2-1 margin. Led by some brilliant goalkeeping on the part of Mathew Bird, and some excellent finishing by Andrew Veer and Brian VanSchagen, the Wolves bounced back from a slow start and an early 1-0 deficit to eventually claim all 3 points after a very exciting and hard-fought 90 minutes of play.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sporting Club’s goalkeeper BRIAN BRUM for his amazing performance in leading his team to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the upstart Serbian White Eagles. Brum made at least 5 incredible saves in the first half as the newly-promoted Eagles came out of the starting blocks with a vengeance in search of a victory over the heavily favoured home team. For his excellent performance, BRIAN BRUM will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-09-25.
WEEK #1—2008-09-09
The 2008-2009 season got off to a flying start this past weekend as all six Premier Division games were highly-contested and hard fought. However, only one major upset was recorded as the perennially powerful Columbus-Clan FC dropped a 2-1 decision to the underdog Metro-Ford Wolves in a match played on Saturday at Town Centre Stadium in Coquitlam. The other results were somewhat predictable, although the defending Premier Division champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, struggled to defeat the upstart Serbian White Eagles by a 1-0 margin.
The VMSL league champions, Sporting Club of Vancouver, met the newly-promoted Serbian White Eagles on Friday evening at Byrne Creek School in Burnaby and eventually walked away with a narrow 1-0 victory. The White Eagles had gained a last minute promotion to the Premier Division due to the fact that the Vancouver Firefighters unexpectedly withdrew from the VMSL just before the league’s kick-off. The first half of the game provided the numerous spectators with a lot of exciting action and numerous excellent scoring opportunities at both ends of the pitch. Despite this fact, the first 45 minutes of play remained scoreless as both goalkeepers, Sporting’s Brian Brum and the White Eagles’ Jovan Lucic, made some phenomenal saves. Early in the second half, however, Sporting took the lead when young Ben Hunt capped off an excellent individual performance as he headed home an impeccable cross by veteran Mike Gomes for what proved to be the match winner. It should also be mentioned that the White Eagles’ central defenders—Savo Milenic and Miso Rakita—had excellent games as they held the vaunted Sporting Club’s attack to one goal during the entire 90 minutes of play.
Also on Friday evening, at Vancouver Technical School, the heavily-favoured ICSF Inter spoiled Richmond Club Ireland’s Premier Division debut by beating the newly-promoted “Legends” by a rather comfortable 3-1 margin. Very early in the match, Inter almost scored when Cristiano Tropeano was sent in on goal on a breakaway by a patented Joseph Marrello pass. Unfortunately for Inter, however, Tropeano’s shot went wide of the mark. Tropeano managed to miss a couple of other glorious scoring opportunities before RCIU scored the opening goal midway through the first half when Chris Jarvie converted a great cross from Terry Bell to give his team the lead. Just before the halftime whistle, newly-signed Nick Seddon restored parity for Inter as unleashed a rocket of a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner of the net. Midway through the second half, Andrew Corazza toe-poked the ball past goalkeeper Matt Clayton for the winning goal. Late in the match, another newcomer—Josh Bennett—sealed the victory for ICSF on a great volley. Richmond’s centre midfielder, Justin Student, had a fine game—albeit in a losing cause.
On Saturday, at Simon Fraser University, Delta WFC hosted West Van FC in a match that could be categorized as “Youth versus Experience”. The very young Delta boys held their own for the first half—during which they surrendered only one goal—but fell apart during the second half and eventually ended up losing by a 4-0 margin. West Van took the lead midway through the first half when newly-signed Meysam Soltani finished off a fine cross from Jesse Fetterley. The skillful, but inexperienced, Delta team fought hard throughout the rest of the first half but failed to score the equalizer against a very tough and composed West Van defence. The second half told a totally different story as the former Trollers tightened their marking and increased the level of their physical play. Leading the way were veteran defenders Trevor Short and Nico Berg, as well as young Leo Nash, whose crunching tackles set the tone of the match in the second half. Meysam Soltani added West Van’s, and his, second goal early in the second half, putting the game out of Delta’s reach. Two other West Van newcomers, Taku Bradshaw and Desmond Tachie, combined to score the third goal as Bradshaw set up Tachie with an excellent pass. Shortly thereafter, Jesse Fetterley put the last nail in Delta’s coffin when he finished off the scoring on a fine pass from Ryan Glanville. Delta’s young holding midfielder, Jordan Whitehead, made a very impressive Premier Division debut with an excellent performance.
Also on Saturday, at Town Centre Stadium in Coquitlam, the Metro-Ford Wolves pulled off a rather large upset by defeating the powerful Columbus-Clan FC by a narrow 2-1 margin. With newcomer Rizal Ganief in their lineup, the Italians took control of the match in the early going and took the lead midway through the first half when Ganief unleashed an amazing drive from outside the penalty area—a shot that goalkeeper Mathew Bird had no chance of stopping. A few minutes earlier, Bird had made a spectacular save on a similar shot, also by Ganief. At this point the Wolves replied with grit and determination and came close to tying things up when newcomer Omari Aldridge scored what appeared to be the equalizer only to have the goal disallowed for an offside infraction. Just before the halftime whistle, however, Metro-Ford knotted the score after some good work by Aldridge and Adam Day enabled Andrew Veer to slot the ball home from close range. In the second half, both teams took turns attacking and creating several great goalscoring opportunities. However, both goalkeepers—Columbus’ Aaron Young and Metro-Ford’s Mat Bird—pulled off some remarkable saves to keep the score tied until the last few minutes of the match. At this point, newly-signed Brian VanSchagen uncharacteristically blasted a long-range right foot shot into the top corner of the net for the Wolves’ winning goal. Just before the final whistle, Columbus came very close to tying things up as Rizal Ganief set up Tino Cucca whose shot was once again brilliantly saved by Bird. All in all, a very good performance by both teams!
The third Saturday game was played at Cloverdale Athletic Park between the revitalized Surrey United Firefighters and the visiting Westside FC. The final 1-1 score seemed to be a fair result as the home team controlled most of the play in the first half, while Westside came on strongly in the second half. Surrey United took the lead midway through the first half when Sunny Bains took advantage of a mid-field give-away, raced down the right flank and crossed a perfect ball onto the path of Phil Lensky who promptly deposited it into the back of the net, past veteran goalkeeper Mike Wicken. In the second half, the Westsiders began to take over the reins of the match and were rewarded when James Brown made a penetrating run down the left flank and found a wide-open Rick Artuso who calmly slotted the ball behind goalkeeper Mike Franks. Westside’s midfielder Keith Moore and forward Chris Mehuys played extremely well throughout the contest, while midfielder Aaron Keay and forward Peter Bergholtz also turned in outstanding performances in their first appearances for Surrey United.
The lone Sunday game was played at Hastings Bowl in Vancouver and featured Croatia SC and the Norvan Eagles. After an exciting 90 minutes of non-stop action, the Croatians came away with a well-deserved 2-1 victory over the revamped North Shore squad. The Eagles got off to a slow start and allowed Croatia to take the early lead when Maarten Koorn’s long range shot was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Mike Norris, only to have Koorn head home the rebound from close range. Shortly thereafter, Norris made another outstanding save, this time on a shot by Steve Dickinson. At this point, the Eagles responded by taking charge of the match and had several good opportunities to tie the score but shots by Josh McCaig, Brian Fowler, and Shawn Blakeway went wide of the mark. Finally, Norvan was able to equalize near the end of the first half when Blake Burgon raced down the right flank, beat a couple of defenders, and crossed the ball to a wide-open Shawn Blakeway who made no mistake with a close range shot. The Croatians took control of the match in the second half and regained the lead at the 55th minute mark when Johnny Sulentic capped off a brilliant individual performance by chipping the ball over the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Mike Norris for the winning goal. Late in the game, Norris once again came up with a brilliant save as he denied Ryan Zaharija a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity. Defensively, Croatia’s Mario Jelic, Darko Jelic, and Robin Hart had outstanding games, limiting Norvan’s attackers to a minimum of goalscoring chances.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: METRO-FORD WOLVES for their gutsy performance in defeating the overwhelming favourites—Columbus-Clan FC—by a narrow 2-1 margin. Led by some brilliant goalkeeping on the part of Mathew Bird, and some excellent finishing by Andrew Veer and Brian VanSchagen, the Wolves bounced back from a slow start and an early 1-0 deficit to eventually claim all 3 points after a very exciting and hard-fought 90 minutes of play.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sporting Club’s goalkeeper BRIAN BRUM for his amazing performance in leading his team to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the upstart Serbian White Eagles. Brum made at least 5 incredible saves in the first half as the newly-promoted Eagles came out of the starting blocks with a vengeance in search of a victory over the heavily favoured home team. For his excellent performance, BRIAN BRUM will receive a prize of a pizza for two, compliments of THE GOLDEN BOOT CAFFE`. The prize is available up to 2008-09-25.
