They’re off! The League1 BC season has officially started. Harbourside FC’s mens and womens teams battled the newest member of the league, Burnaby FC, on the mainland this past Sunday, and came away with lots of positives to move forward into the season with.
Photos: Dean @deanp.hoto on Instagram
The men battled well and came through with a tie, 3-3 at full-time. The first half was full of action. At 33 minutes, Billy Bagiopoulos scored, but the game was tied up soon after due to a penalty against Harbourside. Unfortunately, Burnaby FC scored again within a minute after their penalty. Shortly before half-time, Suka Behery from Harbourside was able to land one in the back of the net. A quick break was all Billy needed, because he scored within the first 10 minutes of the second-half. Harbourside led until the 81st minute, when Burnaby FC scored their final goal of the game. Coach Kevin Lindo noted that Harbourside’s men’s squad “[c]arved out many attacking chances and created problems. Defensively it was a huge effort and although we have some refining to do, there were some great signs of how we handled their threats…A point is a good result against a team with some excellent players.” Kevin also mentioned that he was “[v]ery happy for Suka and Billy who were involved in all [the] goals,” and that “Fergus [hall] led us from the back superbly. Special mention to Charlie [Purcell] who ran over 12km.”
The ladies unfortunately lost 3-1, but not without a fight. They dominated the first 30 minutes, before conceding to a long range strike from Burnaby. Technical lead Daragh Fitzgerald said “[a] combination of us not being sharp enough in the final 3rd and good goalkeeping from Burnaby kept it at 0-0 up to that point.” He also noted that “[r]ight on halftime we had a very unfortunate injury to centre back Sabrina Anderson who had been excellent for us up to that point. In the confusion of Sabrina's injury BFC scored but they generously allowed us to walk the ball up to their goal and score to make it 2-1. Great sportsmanship on behalf of BFC.” Harbourside was able to keep the game more even in the second half, but was unable to produce as many chances as they had earlier in the game. A solid attack from Burnaby led to another goal, “which put the game out of reach. It will feel like a chance missed for our HFC women who were excellent in the first half,” Fitzgerald said. “The team will only get stronger as they spend more time together over the coming weeks and the best performances (and results) are yet to come.”
Next up: Harbourside's first home game, Saturday May 4. Be sure to get your tickets!
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