Mariners Earn a Point on the Road

First road trip, first tie, and first loss of the season.

Saturday, October 2: VIU Mariners 1, Langara Falcons 1

BURNABY, B.C. – In their first road game of the 2021 season, the Mariners were outshot 15-9 (10-5 on target) and earned one corner kick to 10 from their opponent, but held steady to earn a 1-1 draw with the Langara Falcons.

"We found it tough against a well-organized team that plays some good possession soccer," said Larry Stefanek, VIU head coach. "First half, our passing was below its usual standard. Second half, we had a couple of fantastic chances but could not finish them."

The Falcons opened the scoring in the 19th minute. After stealing the ball deep to the right of the Mariner goal, fullback Connor Thompson sent a pass over to third-year midfielder Taku Ota, who was Ota-matic in slotting home a shot to the lower-left corner of the net.

Langara kept pressuring early in the second half but VIU struck back in the 68th minute. A Grayson Chalifoux cross was acrobatically sliced off of the post by an airborne Shun Takano, and as the Langara 'keeper was turned around, Taylor Arbour rushed in to knock the rebound home.  

Included in Mariner goalkeeper Ben Chamberlin's nine saves was a 76th-minute dive forward to halt a potential breakaway and a 91st-minute save on a rising blast to preserve the point for VIU.

Sunday, October 3: Douglas Royals 1, VIU Mariners 0

COQUITLAM, B.C. – The Mariners suffered their first loss of the 2021 PACWEST season, falling 1-0 to the Douglas Royals in a tight game that was decided with only minutes to play.

An 88th-minute Royals cross deflected off a number of players right in front of the VIU net before landing at the foot of Ghanaian forward Ayman Sahmuddeen, and he directed the ball into the net at the far post.

"It was a hard fought game…an excellent one to watch," Stefanek said. "Two very even teams on the day. We just switched off defensively on the goal, and when you do that, you can get punished."

VIU goalkeeper Ben Chamberlin earned his first loss of the season, but Stefanek credited him—and the team—with an excellent game.   

"A good team performance," Stefanek said, "but unfortunately not the result we wanted."

Up Next

With four games remaining in the 2021 PACWEST regular season, the Mariners sit atop the conference standings with 10 points (3-1-1). The Royals, on a three-game winning streak, move up to second (9 points) while Langara (7) and Capilano (6) round out the standings. The top three teams in the conference advance to the PACWEST provincial championships.

Next weekend, PACWEST soccer takes a break for the Thanksgiving. The Mariners return to the pitch for a road game versus the Capilano Blues on Saturday, October 16th (3:30 PM kickoff).

The next day, the Mariners play their final home game of the season at Merle Logan Turf Field (Beban Park) versus the Langara Falcons (2:30 PM kickoff).

 Games are streamed live at PACWEST.TV.