A lively start saw Unity come out swinging, but we absorbed the pressure, especially in the first five minutes and settled in to a possession based response. From the beginning it was clear that the combination of Sophia Kramer and Elyse Beaudry were going to cause problems for Unity on the right hand side, with Nina Louis operating freely in the inside channels. Kristen Sakaki, Unity’s left back, had her work cut out for her.
Our play throug the middle resulted in the first chance at 11’ when Delana Friesen fed a lovely through ball to Claire Ye who was offside. Friesen would have her own chance four minutes later on an incisive through ball from Erin van Dolder, which just failed to find our striker’s feet. More chances followed including a long attempt by Ye, but Unity held.
Unity responded with more attacking and Mansha Sighu, who was a handful in front of goal all night, managed to score at 32’ but was judged offside. Three minutes later however, a scramble in front of goal saw a save from Mae Hobenshield and a fantastic blocked shot by Erin van Dolder, off a Kylie Hendricks cannon, but Sidhu managed to find the net with a good header that wrong foot Hobenshield. We went into the break trailing 0-1.
As they did at kick off, Unity came out strong and narrowly missed an early chance as a Hobenshield save was deflected into the path of former Whitecaps Academy striker Abby Anderson, who nearly scored.
From there we found our feet and returned to possession and patient build up play. The second half proceeded with very few chances until Rovers upped the pressure towards the 65th minute. In the 68th minute, Claire Ye had a golden chance but was again offside. A few minutes later at 71’, Sophia Fermo bundled in the ball off a brilliant short corner. Elyse Beaudry took the ball in along the touch line and lifted a scoop pass into the path of Faremo who bundled it in and we were even at 1-1.
Trying to lock down the game, Sophie Campbell, who was part of a back line that did well to contain the Unity attackers all night, was extremely hard done by with a marginal handball shout at 86.’ Former Rover Jenna Baxter stepped to the spot for Unity and buried the penalty. Despite late pressure from our team, we could produce the equalizer and the match ended 2-1, when a draw was very much the more deserved result.
Right out of the gate we started with a fierce press that resulted in an early chance within the first minute from Michael Hennessy. A hard challenge by Luciano Keramen in the 8’, set the tone early for the physical nature of the rest of the game.
Ivan Mejia, who was dynamic all night had two early chances saved by David Hicks who would have his work cut out for him on the night.
The first half-hour was all Rovers, dominated primarily by possession through the middle, but missed connections in the final third and the strong play of the Unity centre back pairing of Ismail Savane and Lenon Thompson kept us at bay. Unity were able to generate a couple of opportunities on the right side, but keeping the ball away from the dangerous Victory. Shumbusho was key to depriving the Unity attack of any oxygen and Shaya Zaramjapout earned player of the week honours with his controlling play at the back.
On 39’ we finally got a breakthrough when Michael Hennessy was fouled by Joven Sidhu in the box and he buried the subsequent penalty for our only goal of the game.
Frustration crept into the match and going into the half both sides began to be chippier in their duels. A series of fouls and free kicks slowed the pace.
Crunching tackles and outright muggings where the order of the day is the second half began with Unity pressing higher into the middle third to try and generate defense. Ivan Mejia, who was playing effectively on both sides of the ball, was the focus of Unity’s attention, wearing defenders like a fur coat for most of the match.
Cal Weir remained untested in the Rover’s net until a 53rd minute corner forced him to punch the ball away to safety. Rovers regained the tempo and possession and onward we went..
We had a chance to double the lead in the 63’ when Luciano Keramen won the ball on the right side and played in Ivan Mejia who slid a pass to Luis Klimo who went in alone on goal. The shot went straight to the keeper.
Another good save by Hicks in 73’ resulted in Rovers securing an indirect free kick inside the box in the ensuing scramble. A Unity handball on the free kick resulted in a second penalty for Rovers and Michael Hennessy stepped to the spot again only to power the penalty off the crossbar.
For the remainder of the game, Unity were frustrated in their attempts to find the equalizer, and we walked away from Surrey with a well-deserved 1-0 victory.
Next up: our Men travel to Winnipeg for the Preliminary round of the Canadian Championship against Valour FC on May 7th. Next league play for both our teams is the Burnaby derby May 10th against the Burnabeagles at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex.
