The two Surrey sides which have won the last two provincial championships earned their first victories of the Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) season last weekend.
Both won on the road, as the Surrey United Firefighters doubled Estrella de Chile 4-2 Friday night in Burnaby, and ICST Pegasus blanked Norvan Pacific 2-0 Saturday in North Vancouver.
Surrey United, the current Provincial Cup champions who will play at the national championships next month in Winnipeg, got a pair of first half goals from Angus Burke for a 2-0 lead.
Steve McAuley finished off a scoring play set up by a corner kick from Steve Kindel, heading home a ball early in the second half. Burke set up Andrew Proctor for a 4-0 Surrey lead.
Estrella de Chile got two back in the final five minutes of play, spoiling a shutout bid by Paul Shepherd, who made several saves early in the game before his team got on the scoreboard.
United now has a win and a loss, and is tied for fifth place in the 12-team Premier Division.
Defending league champion Pegasus survived a slow start, getting two goals in the second half for their win. Norvan had the better of the play in the first half-hour, but Pegasus netminder Andy Singh shut out the home side.
Goldy Takhar finished off a play started by a run past two defenders by Chetan Jhooty, scoring the winning goal just after the break. Diaz Kambere added an insurance goal late in the game off a free kick.
Provincial Cup winners in 2011, Pegasus is tied for second with Columbus FC and Rovers CCBTU (Central City Breakers, Tigers/United) with a win and a tie.
The Rovers also won their first game of the season, doing so at home with a 3-1 win over Coquitlam Metro-Ford Wolves at Newton Athletic Park.
Playing as the Sapperton Rovers in New Westminster last season, the Rovers trailed 1-0 at half time. Rizal Ganief converted a cross from Dever Orgill to tie the game in the 55th minute, then Orgill notched the winner after taking a pass from Ganief just minutes later.
Ganief finished the scoring from the penalty spot in the 70th minute.
The Delta United Hurricanes fell behind 2-0 after 45 minutes, and dropped a 3-1 decision to Columbus FC Sunday afternoon at North Delta’s John Oliver Park.
Daniel Badesha on a penalty scored the lone Delta goal late in the match.
Despite the loss, Drew Smiley had a strong game in the Hurricanes goal and was co-winner of the VMSL’s Player of the Week award.