Any Way You Look At It, Undefeated is Undefeated

Surrey United closed out their season on a bitterly cold Saturday evening, in that special kind of chill between rain and snow that makes every tackle sting. Their opponents and home side, Mountain United FC, had very quietly snuck up the standings after a slow start that saw them unexpectedly drop a game to Thompson Okanagan FC. Now, with one game remaining and after four successive wins, Mountain were sitting three points back in the standings and in striking distance to draw even with Surrey United.

The home side showed their enthusiasm for the match and pushed hard in the opening minutes; much of the first fifteen minutes were spent with Surrey defending and Mountain trying to force a way through. For the most part the visitors were able to remain calm and organized which allowed them to settle into the game and begin to mount some offense of their own. Surrey started getting in behind Mountain's back line in all sorts of ways setting up a number decent half-chances. Ultimately though, the pressure deep set up a pocket of space about twenty five yards where Surrey's centre mids played the Sedin routine to set each other up and a beautiful strike on goal put the visitors up 1-0. Surrey United doubled their lead not long after, this time unlocking Mountain with an excellent through ball that sprung free a striker. With little to shoot at, Surrey's striker put it low and right at the keeper who got most of it but could not stop it from trickling through him and across the line. Right before the half the home side were awarded a PK but Surrey's keeper made a fine save to maintain the 2-0 lead going into the half.

After the break the visitors started to impose a bit more of a presence in the game not so much by creating chances but by limiting the Mountain's ability to build up and keeping possession in the opposition half. At the sixty minute mark, Surrey finally got the third goal they needed to put it away. A shot from about 20 yards deflected off a defender, handcuffing the keeper and putting Surrey United up 3-0. In the final twenty minutes, Surrey and Mountain traded some excellent scoring chances with Surrey missing the target on their chances and relying on some good saves to keep Mountain off the scoreboard. In the final minutes Mountain got some consolation converting on a corner to bring it to 3-1 but that was all the could manage.

The 3-1 win against their toughest league opposition to date was a strong finish to their inaugural EA Sports BC Soccer Premier League season. Although Surrey United never showed the offensive outburst a lot were expecting they did manage to lead every statistical scoring category by a wide margin and were a full goal per game better than the next three teams chasing them in the standings. But statistics can read whatever way you like and at the end of the day, after playing every team, no one beat Surrey United: Undefeated is undefeated, no matter which way you slice it.

Surrey United's next big date is the FC Del Sol President's Day Tournament in February.