Sunday Men's Soccer Rewind

Sunday afternoon the Falcons and Mariners both earned an important win to wrap up Week 4 of the regular season. 

Langara Falcons 1 – Capilano Blues 0

These two teams are extremely evenly matched, and it showed once again on Sunday afternoon. 

In the first half both teams didn’t generate much offence with both keepers having to make just one save. The midfielders and backline on both sides played a very suffocating game not allowing much.

Finally, in the 56^th minute, the Falcons got on the board.  Keeper Ziyan Clark-Ismail booted a clearing ball all the way down the field that was misplayed by the Blues backline.  The ball bounced over a defender’s head allowing Kazuki Nakanishi a chance to get behind the defenders.  He controlled the loose ball and made a nifty move to his right to give himself a clear scoring chance and made no mistake finding the back of the net.   It would hold up as the game winner.

Once they had the lead the Falcons locked down with Clark-Ismail only needing to make one save in the second half to collect the clean sheet, his fourth of the season.

The victory gives the Falcons a sweep this weekend winning both games and left the Blues searching for their scoring touch who didn’t score a goal this weekend.

VIU Mariners 3 – Douglas Royals 1

This was a very entertaining game in which the Royals opened the scoring in extra time of the first half.   Ayman Sahmuddeen chased down a long pass from the Royals backline and tapped it past a challenging keeper.  He controlled the ball, made a nice move around two defenders who were hustling back, and gave himself room to shoot into an open net for his third of the season.

After half the tables flipped and it was all Mariners.  They tied the match in the 62^nd minute when Charlie Smith scored his second of the weekend and fifth of the year.  He received a beautiful through ball and sprinted all alone on the keeper Matteo Lamon.  He tapped it past Lamon, then blasted a shot into the open net.   Just three minutes later the Mariners struck again on the eventual game winner. Declan Brown capitalized on a strong rebound that came out to the top of the 18-yard box and smashed the one timer past Lamon who was out of position.

They would then ice it in the 89^th minute when Aidan Gutierrez was the beneficiary of a gorgeous tap pass from Smith in the middle of the box and redirected the ball into the net for some insurance.  

The outcome of the contest gives both the Marines and Royals a weekend split.