SGU Takes Third in Port Moody

Surrey-Guildford United played in their first tournament since the squad was formed and despite some goal scoring inefficiency, overall the team earned favorable results.

The opening game of the tournament was against the Richmond Young Gunners and SGU knew very little about the boys from Lulu Island. Through much of the first half Richmond kept SGU constantly under pressure while United was in possession of the ball. The Gunners showed threats in the first half but were not able to capitalize and the score was 0-0 at half.

In the second half, Richmond struck early when a poor clearing attempt fell right to the feet of a Young Gunners striker and he proceeded to dribble two United defenders before slotting it past the Surrey-Guildford keeper. Falling behind seemed to wake up United and they picked up the pace of their play. With a little more urgency in their game SGU was able to back Richmond into their own end but struggled to get much onto goal. Late in the game while pressing for the equalizer, the Young Gunners counter attacked quickly and got a striker in behind the United back line and he finished for a 2-0 lead and final score.

In the afternoon, Surrey-Guildford took on Coquitlam Metro-Ford Euro; both Euro and SGU were without their full line-up of players. Euro opened the scoring on a corner, as the ball was delivered in, several United defenders failed to track their checks and the ball was easily headed in to lead the game 1-0. Later in the first half, SGU nearly equalized on a great strike that just caught too much of the post and failed to get accross the goaline. Score at the half, 1-0 Euro.

Much like the Richmond game, United looked a little slow and uncoordinated in their build-up, while they managed to get chances it was a bit too slow in order to be dangerous. Surrey-Guildford did manage to draw even on a penalty that was converted mid-way through the second half. Late in the game SGU was robbed of the potential go-ahead goal. United's striker got into a footrace with Euro's last man and as they fought for position Euro's defender tumbled while holding back SGU's striker, the ref unfortunately disagreed and called the foul against United. That was the last scoring chance of the game and the contest ended in a 1-1 draw.

Game #3 of the tournament was on Sunday morning against Coquitlam Metro-Ford Spartans. The Spartans are an underage team but quite strong. Surrey-Guildford definitely looked much stronger than CMF holding possession in the Spartans end for much of the first half but again struggled break into the danger area and get chances. United got the lone goal of the game mid-way through the first half on a corner that got delivered into the box twice and a Spartan defender accidentally knocked it into his own net. CMF did get a couple of chances to draw even late in the second half but failed to convert either opportunity. Final score 1-0 SGU.

In their final, Surrey-Guildford would again face Coquitlam Metro Ford Euro for third place. Fatigue played quite a role in this game as United was down to two subs. Through the majority of the game SGU kept Euro from getting quality chances but the theme of the weekend seemed to be United's inpotence offensively. While Surrey-Guildford were getting more chances than previous games, shots were fired wide, at the keeper, blocked and pretty much any direction other than the back of the opposition net. United did continue to press and with ten minutes remaining in the game built up beautifully from their own side of centre and eventually put one past the Euro netminder. The goal was enough to clinch the game and finish third in the tournament.

For the summer most of the Surrey-Guildford squad is playing with the travelling team which will have a couple of exhibitions before heading to Bellingham for the Baker Blast at the end of June.