YFC 3 – Alianza 2

Yaletown picked up all three points Sunday afternoon with a well deserved and hard fought win against Alianza. The match started out badly for YFC, with Alianza players doing their best bulldozer impressions for our keeper,  John Bardsley and Alianza grabbing 2 goals in the opening 20 minutes. Shortly after the second goal, yet another reckless body check resulted in John hyper-extending his elbow and leaving the match with Sherman Lai replacing him.

However thats where the bad news ends. YFC took control of the match slowly starting close to the 20-25th minute, with the midfield working hard to cut off Alianza’s passing and the defense moving the ball forward well. Several breaks and good runs eventually led to Pierce Joneson being fed a sweet through ball around the 18. and he deftly put the ball past his mark and fired low and past the keeper. The celebration that ensued brought cheering from the Alianza bench as Pierce ran full tilt up the sideline twirling his shirt around his head. The play went YFC’s way the rest of the half with several good chances coming from corners through Dan Rankin’s head and a good chance for Gustavo Baratto. The next goal was also the result of yet another corner and it found Antonio Rabelo’s boot for a perfect, unstoppable volley and one of the best goals in any season. The half ended 2-2 shortly after.

When the 2nd half began the play kept going YFC’s way with hard work in defense limiting Alianza to no significant chances since their 2nd goal early in the match. Small patches of inconsistent possession marked most of the 2nd half, but the breakthrough eventually came. A good move down the left flank resulted in Pierce getting a shot in on goal that was saved and Gustavo cleaned up the rebound from 16 yards out to win the match.