Inter stun defending champs to lead way in VMSL Premier alongside VUFC Hibernian and Croatia (with video highlights)

Week 2 of the Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) season is in the books and if it’s a gauge of what we can expect from the new campaign, we’re in for a cracking season in the Premier Division.

Only three teams still have their 100% record intact by the end of the second round of matches, with three still searching for their first points of the season.

It’s still early days but this certainly feels like a year where we’re going to have a lot of parity and hopefully a title chase that will go right down to the wire with a number of teams in the mix.

The Week 2 action got underway in Coquitlam on Friday night, with the first of two seven goal crackers that evening.

Coquitlam Metro Ford Wolves played host to VUFC Hibernian at Cunnings Field and the visitors came away with a big 5-2 victory to take top spot in the early standings.

The home side opened the scoring in the 25th minute through Marcus Fujii but that lead was to last only three minutes before Bradley Richardson levelled things up for VUFC. That was how it stayed until eight minutes into the second half when Mario Kovacevic put the visitors ahead and it was a lead they weren’t give up.

Kyle Dent struck in the 71st and 88th minute to extend VUFC’s lead and although Kyle Jones pulled one back for the home side in the last minute, Brandon Momotani struck a fifth for Hibernian to see them go nap and leave with an impressive three points.

VUFC already look a force to be reckoned with this season and the reigning Imperial Cup champions will only get stronger as the season goes on when they are bolstered by more UBC Thunderbirds recruits.

Early points on the board could prove crucial down the stretch and Inter EDC came away with a big three points with a 2-1 win over defending Premier Division champions BB5 United CCB at Burnaby Lake on Friday night.

This was a strange match with two sending offs and five bookings in a match that was far from being a feisty affair. BB5 dominated the possession in the first half and had a few looks on goal without really testing the Inter keeper. The home side were reliant on quick counter attacks and it was one of them that led to the opening goal in the 39th minute, when Nic Apostol was played in, got the better of last defender Elie Gindo, and had a nice chipped finish to put Inter 1-0 up.

Joy for the home side but they were reduced to ten men four minutes later when Andres Rojas was sent off for kicking out at Ramsey Alfantazi, after he was brought down on another quick breakaway.

BB5 will have fancied their chances of getting back into the game with the man advantage but they fell two behind 10 minutes into the second half through an Alex Marrello penalty. They now had a mountain to climb to even salvage a point and their cause wasn’t helped when they went down to 10 men themselves in the 62nd minute after Marcel de Jong was sent off for a second bookable offence.

BB5 took the game to Inter but the home defence was holding firm. They were eventually breached in the 89th minute with a nice flicked header from Gindo, but although the Surrey side threw everything they could in the stoppage time, and had a great chance with a ball across goal that was just waiting to be put away, they couldn’t find the equaliser and Inter came away with all the points.

You can see our highlights from the match over on AFTN’s YouTube channel and in the video below.

The last Friday night action played out at Newton Athletic Park and was the second of the seven goal thrillers that evening as West Van came away with their first points of the new season with a hard fought 4-3 win over SFC Pegasus.

Noah De Rappard-Yuswack put the visitors ahead five minutes in, but Gurmaan Jhaj tied things up for Pegasus in the 35th minute to send the teams in level at the half.

De Rappard-Yuwack got his second of the game midway through the second half to put West Van back in the lead but a Rafael Domingoes goal in the 70th minute and a Sahil Sandhu strike four minutes later put the Horsemen ahead for the first time on the night.

West Van weren’t to be denied though and Jordan Verones tied things back up again the 78th minute before Andrew Shoring grabbed a dramatic late 86th minute winner for the Amblesiders.

Saturday saw the other three Premier matches played, kicking off with Coastal getting their first win of the new season with a 2-1 victory against last year’s Division 1 champions Columbus FC. Jake Starheim’s 9th minute goal and Isaac Kyei’s 40th minute effort had the home side two up by the half. Boris Si made it interesting for Columbus four minutes from time but the Surrey side held on for the three points.

Westside hosted Croatia SC on the Point Grey turf, with the visitors also coming away with a 2-1 victory. Emile Saimovici put them on their way in the 39th minute before Zach Carmel levelled for the home side just before the hour mark. With a share of the spoils looking likely, up popped Tynan Pound to hit the 88th minute winner for Croatia, keeping their perfect start to the season intact.

The final match of the weekend saw the third of the newly promoted sides, Port Moody SC, grab their first win in the top flight with a 3-1 victory at home to last week’s big winners BCT Rovers Hurricanes. All the goals came in the second half of this one with Zakiy Karim (50th minute), Samuel Lee (58th minute), and Barham Waisy (67th minute) putting Port Moody three up by the midway point of the half. Javid Khan pulled one back in the 70th minute but that was it for the Surrey side.

So after all of those results, the VMSL Premier Division standings look as follows following the week two action:

What does week three have in store? Well here’s what’s on the slate:

Friday September 23rd:

Columbus FC v Port Moody SC (7.25pm – Burnaby Lake Field 4)
West Van FC v Coastal SC (7.30pm – Ambleside, West Vancouver)
BCT Rovers Hurricanes v Coquitlam Metro Ford Wolves (8.45pm – Newton Athletic Park Field 4, Surrey)
BB5 United CCB v Westside FC (8.45pm – Hjorth Road, Surrey)

Saturday September 24th:

Croatia SC v SFC Pegasus (2.05pm – Empire Fields North, Vancouver)

Sunday September 25th:

VUFC Hibernian v Inter EDC (4.15pm – UBC South, Vancouver)

That last match-up is a top of the table affair between two of the three unbeaten sides and should be a cracker.

You can get all of this season’s results, fixtures, and standings across all of the divisions over at VMSLsoccer.com.