Rovers League1 BC Matchweek 3 – Striking Hot Against Harbourside

BC weather is not the only thing heating up the Swangard Stadium pitch this month.

This past Saturday featured another anticipated League1 BC double-header for the TSS Rovers, facing Harbourside FC, the brand-new addition to League1 BC for this year. It was the first face-off between the two teams for both the men and women and both sides were looking to leave an impression. 

For the women, Rovers are slowly building their starters back into the line-up as they return from the US with their college seasons ending. They have not won a game this season and with last week’s game ending in a 1-1 tie, the women were hungry to get more points and their first win this season. However, equally as hungry, the Harbourside women were looking to gain their first win in League1 BC standings.

After a heartbreaking quarter-final loss to Pacific FC in the Canadian Championship, the men returned to Swangard ready for battle. What the Rovers accomplished in their Canadian Championship run was both historic and inspiring and while their performance at Starlight Stadium was top-notch, the boys needed a win to boost their momentum and their spirits. However, the win would not come easy facing the current first place ranked Harbourside men’s team.

Also returning from their Wednesday journey to the high seas, the band of pirates known as Swanguardians came back to Swangard in good spirits despite the loss to Pacific FC. The fans were just as hungry for a win as the players and were ready to do whatever they could to cheer the Rovers on to victory, including melting in the hot sun.

The Rovers women’s team started the game off firing on all cylinders. Within the very first five minutes of play, the women earned a corner kick against Harbourside and had a hard shot on net that ended up being too high, foreshadowing the dominant play of the first half by the Rovers. 

The Rovers continued to power through. The majority of the play was in the Harbourside area for the first half which saw many goal chances for the women. In the 22-minute, #23 Elcombe had a beautiful header chance off of a cross but it just went wide from the net. Shortly after, there was another shot on net that the Harbourside keeper was able to defend.

Harbourside did have some brilliant breakaway plays in the first half. In the 23-minute, Harbourside had two back-to-back shots on net that keeper Mae Hobenshield brilliantly defended. The amazing two saves prompted a lot of love from the Swanguardians, singing “There’s shield in her name!”

Finally, in the 32-minute, the Rovers persistence finally paid off when #21 Virk scored a clean goal against Harbourside. However, the Rovers did not ease off the gas pedal as Virk had another breakaway in the 36-minute. Unfortunately, that did not lead to a Rover goal and the first half would end in a 1-0 lead for the women.

Throughout all the action, the Swanguardians continued to chant and cheer the Rovers on. Along with their usual chants, there were many creative ones thrown in, including cheering that “There is water in beer” when reminding everyone to hydrate. At one point, there was even a chant to the Muppets theme song, which got a lot of laughs from the fans and some players on the field. 

The second half of the game unfortunately saw a switch in momentum for the two teams that happened almost immediately. Harbourside came in strong against the Rovers which resulted in the tying goal by #24 Skalik after #19 Wilkinson fought through three Rovers to get the ball to Skalik. Shortly after, they had another chance with a header off of a cross that went wide of the net, mirroring the exact same play for the Rovers in the first half.

The Rovers answered quickly in the 59-minute with a textbook corner kick play. Instead of crossing it to the net, there was a short little give and go before crossing into the goal. The Harbourside goalie did save that shot but couldn’t keep control of the ball. #15 Merk, who was subbed on during the second half, took the rebound opportunity and scored the second goal for the Rovers.

However, Harbourside was not going down without a fight. In return, they also answered quickly to Rovers’ second goal in the 67-minute. After a bad giveaway from the Rovers, #24 Skalik gained control of the ball and on a breakaway was able to score the tying goal again. 

Near the end of the half, the Rovers seemed to pick up speed again and both teams found a lot of back-and-forth action on both sides of the field. At the 85-minute mark, Harbourside was close to another goal chance but with a little rough and tumbling defending, the Rovers were able to stop the play. It wasn’t pretty but it was certainly effective. Shortly after, in the 87-minute, Hobenshield had another beautiful save, keeping the game tied.

With some injuries, there was 3 minutes extra time added on to the game by the referee. Just as it seemed like the game would end in a tie, in the 92-minute Harbourside took another shot on net. Hobenshield deflected the ball, intending it to go over the top cross bar. Unfortunately, it caught just under and bounced back down on the goal line. One of the Harbourside players rushed in quickly and headed in, earning them a 3-2 win over the Rovers and their very first League1 BC victory. It was an unfortunate end to the game for the Rovers women.

After the women’s game, it was the men’s turn to take the pitch. Along with the Swanguardians, a group of Harbourside fans came to the game, carrying pink signs and cheering on #6 from the men’s team. It was heartwarming to see devoted fans make the trip to Burnaby to cheer their favourite player on (who definitely had the best hair out of everyone with a rocking mullet).

The away team started on the southside of the field first, making them closest to the Swanguardians right away. However, before the supporters group could even start any of their cheers, the Harbourside goalie barked rudely at the fans “You better be respectful!” It was honestly startling for a player on the opposing team to get so snappy right away (especially after the Highlanders goalie from the May 6 game was such a good sport with the Rovers fans).

If any League1 BC players are reading this match report, please take this unsolicited advice – attacking the Swanguardians supporters club is only going to make you an even bigger target for their (respectful) taunts. 

The Rovers men’s team started off slowly building their momentum, setting the pace of the game to what they wanted to play right away. At the 8-minute mark of the game, Rovers had a really close chance of scoring but was unfortunately stopped due to a foul called against them. One minute later, #21 Zarjampour took a foul for the team after receiving a careless hit to the eye. Luckily, Zarjampour was alright but Harbourside was not safe from the Swanguardians, who all yelled at the players to “keep it respectful”.

The first half continued to be a little chippy, with both sides drawing some fouls throughout. #11 from the Harbourside team was an immediate standout in the game with his tough defending. However, the Rovers remained dominant and had quite a few chances and breakaways. At the 16-minute, #11 Eric Edwardson hit a bullet of a shot at the Harbourside net which ended up going off the post (and saved myself from a ball to the face).

At the 21-minute, Rovers took a penalty shot that was ultimately saved by the Harbourside goalie. This save, along with the goalie being dressed in all red, prompted the Swanguardians to name the goalie “Rock Lobster” and cheered his “skill to put his lobster claws into good use”. 

For the next few minutes of the game, #8 Ivan Mejia and #11 Eric Edwardson put on a master class of ball control, passing and crossing the ball. This resulted in a beautiful header goal by Edwardson at the 27-minute from a cross from Meja, finally putting the Rovers on the board.

Rovers continued to dominate the first half with plenty of goal-scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, they could not add more goals before half-time, ending exactly how the Rover women did in the first half of their game. 

As the players came off the field, the Swanguardians wished the “Rock Lobster” goalie a farewell and promised they will continue to keep things respectful. For an unconfirmed reason (but the Swanguardians will proudly claim they are the reason) Harbourside decided to change goalies for the second half. 

At the start of the second half, Rovers continued to dominate the game. Within the first 5 minutes, Rovers earned a corner kick and a couple of shots on net. However, Harbourside never gave up. In the 54-minute, after the new goalie saved a shot, they immediately answered with a shot on the Rovers net that went way over.

In the 63-minute, Mejia fought through a crowd of Harbourside players for a shot on net but the Harbourside goalie (Rock Lobster 2.0) made an incredible save. The Rovers earned a corner kick from this play, where off of the cross, Edwardson headed it into the net for the second goal of the night for the Rovers. “Two is not enough” chants from the Swanguardians rang through Swangard.

While the Rovers were dominating the majority of the game, Harbourside should certainly be commended for never giving up on themselves. At the 69-minute, there was a very close opportunity for a Harbourside goal with some shaky defending by the Rovers in the front of the net. However, they did manage to clear the play out.

At the 72-minute, #21 from Harbourside came charging in for the ball at the same time that the Rovers goalie Justyn Sandhu came out to defend. Sandhu beat the Harbourside player by a half second but ended up colliding into him. While the referee did confirm there was no penalty as Sandhu was entirely going for the ball only, it was still a scary moment as the Harbourside player struggled to breathe after the wind was knocked out of him. Thankfully, he was able to recover and continue to play.

At the 83-minute mark, Edwardson scored his third goal of the game and sealed the victory for the Rovers. In support of his teammate, Sandhu ran over to the Swanguardians and popped a smoke bomb in celebration of Edwardson’s hat trick. This sweet moment truly captures what the Rovers club is all about – supporting and lifting each other.

However, as if three was not enough, in the last moment of the game, #10 Matteo Polisi ended up scoring the final goal of the game, resulting in a decisive 4-0 win against Harbourside. The Rovers certainly had to work hard for all four goals, thanks to the strong Harbourside defense, which makes this win even more rewarding.

This past Saturday’s games are showing that both Rovers teams are building some positive momentum for this season. Hopefully, only the hot BC weather will be the only thing cooling down for the Rovers and their upcoming home games on Saturday, May 20 against Unity FC!

All photography taken by/property of @residualimage/@aftn