Men's Saturday Recap
The Falcons and Royals each earn a win on Saturday afternoon
Saturday afternoon saw a pair of thrilling games in men's PACWEST soccer on the first day of Week 4 of the regular season.
Langara Falcons 3 – VIU Mariners 2
The Falcons record their fifth win of the campaign after a one goal victory over the Mariners on Saturday afternoon. They opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Cobe Monte made a tremendous play to win a ball battle in the Mariners left corner. He then sent a beautiful pass to the top of the box for waiting teammate Taynour Bashghareh who made a terrific move to his left, beating two defenders then blasted a shot into the top left corner of the net to give his club the lead.
Then in the 31st minute the same duo strikes again. Bashgahareh made a couple of moves to get around the Mariners backline and into the 18-yard box before sneaking a pass through the middle that was redirected by Monte into the bottom corner of the net to give his club a two-goal advantage.
Just three minutes later the Mariners cut the lead in half. Declan Brown at the top of the 18-yard box delivers a nice pass to Benedek Horvath who was surrounded by three Falcons defenders. With a tap pass to himself, he evaded the defence moving to his right, then got a shot away, tucking it in, grazing the far post for his first of the season.
In the 42nd minute the Falcons struck paydirt again with some familiar names. Monte sent a stunning pass just over the head of a leaping Mariners defender to Bashgahareh streaking down the far side. He was able to control the pass then sent a blistering shot past the keeper, however, rang it off the post. The rebound came right to a trailing Taigo Shimada who booted it home for the Falcons third marker of the half.
Just before the break, in extra time the Mariners were pressing with a shot that went off the crossbar right to Charlie Smith. He did an excellent job to carrel the rebound and just snuck it past the keeper for his team leading fourth of the season. Not 15 seconds later, time expired and the teams went into half time.
Despite a combined five goals in the first half, neither team was able to generate one in the second half and the Falcons hung on for the victory.
Sunday afternoon the Falcons (5-1-1) will visit the Capilano Blues (3-3-1) at 2:30pm. | WATCH HERE
The Mariners (1-5-1) on the other hand will head to Douglas to meet the Royals (3-3-1) at 2:30pm | WATCH HERE
Douglas Royals 2 – Capilano Blues 0
The Royals played an excellent road game, getting the lead early, then locked down their defence to earn the clean sheet.
In the first minute the Royals put pressure on the Blues backline with a rush up the right side. As the forward entered the 18-yard box, the Blues’ keeper Graydon Sherle challenged the play and the ball popped up off a redirection and into the middle of the box. Jack Spencer jumped on the bouncing ball with a tap pass to himself and found the smallest piece of daylight and snuck it past the recovering Sherle for the Royals first goal. It was a marker that would hold up as the game winner.
The game stayed 1-0 until the late stages. In the 83rd minute the Royals got some insurance when Andrew Kerr controlled a looping ball headed for the middle of the pitch at the top of the 18-yard box. He settled ball, changed directions on a dime and blasted a left footed shot into the top corner of the net for a highlight reel tally. The two-goal advantage proved too much for the Blues to mount a comeback, and the Royals record their third win of the season.
Keeper Matteo Lamon made four saves for the clean sheet.
Sunday afternoon the Royals (3-3-1) will host the VIU Mariners (1-5-1) at 2:30pm | WATCH HERE
The Blues (3-3-1) will welcome the Langara Falcons (5-1-1) at 2:30pm in an important showdown | WATCH HERE