Recap: PACWEST Men's Soccer

Photo by Greg Sakaki - Nanaimo Bulletin

An exciting first week of PACWEST soccer on the men’s side is in the books. Check the recap:

SATURDAY

VIU Mariners 7
Langara Falcons 0 - BOX SCORE

The Mariners showed why they mean business in 2017, scoring seven goals on Saturday.

Rookie Fernando Fenollosa got the ball rolling in the 14th minute smashing a ball past the Falcons netminder. From there the flood gates opened as the Mariners saw six more goals, by five different players.

Defensively the Mariners were solid as well giving up just one shot, which was calmly stopped by David Turkstra who earns his first shutout. Oddly enough Turkstra earned his first shutout last season almost exactly a year to the day. In last year’s season opener on September 10th, he shutout Douglas.

Goal Scorers for the Mariners: Jordan DeGraaf (x2), Victor Blasco, Stefan Cukovic, Jamie Taylor, Stephen Ewasnko.

Douglas Royals 3 - BOX SCORE
Quest Kermodes 3

The most exciting game of the day played in the pouring rain.

After a long bus ride the Kermodes came out flying as Ahmed Kamal opened the scoring in the sixth minute, followed by Yassin Nayel in the 19th minute.

Halfway through the first half the Royals started to gain some momentum and in the 27th minute Stefan Kamner got the home side on the board with his first of the season.

The Kermodes continued to push and in the 41st minute Nick Park restored the two goal advantage before the break.

In the second half the Royals made some adjustments and David Suh took advantage getting his first of the season in the 58th minute. Just two minutes later the Royals tied it as Nawaf Binsalen scored.

Both teams played excellent defence after that and the game ended in a tie.

Sam MacDonald made three saves for the Kermodes while the Royals used two goalies. Joel Webb made four saves and Sraw Iqbal added one more.

SUNDAY

VIU Mariners 2
Douglas Royals 1 - BOX SCORE

In a rematch of last season’s PACWEST semi-final the VIU Mariners got a small measure of revenge on the Douglas Royals with a 2-1 victory on Sunday.

The Royals opened the scoring in the 51st minute when David Suh scored his second of the young season. The goal was the first allowed by the Mariners this year.

The lead was short lived however as the Mariners tied it in the 61st minute off the foot of Chris Merriman, his first of the campaign. Then in the 76th minute Jamie Taylor scored the game winner, giving the Mariners their second win of the weekend.

Goalie David Turkstra made four saves in the victory, while the Royals’ Joel Webb also stopped four.

Capilano Blues 4
Langara Falcons 1 - BOX SCORE

The two-time defending champion Blues opened the season on Sunday with a 4-1 victory over the very young Langara Falcons.

Blues’ sniper Keith Jackson wasted little time netting his first of the season in the ninth minute. Then eight minutes later Daniel Morello scored what would turn out to be the winning goal in the 17th minute.

The Falcons got on the board for the first time this season in the 30th minute as Alexander Escobar booted a ball past goalie Hudson Nelles.

The goal must have woke up the Blues as Jackson went back to work scoring in the 40th and 50th minutes completing the hat trick and securing their first win of the season.

Nelles made three saves in the victory while Falcons’ goalie Kevin Monk made five saves, but allowed four goals.