Pioneers Bag Seven in Season Opener

Richmond Pioneers 7 Ben United 0

Playing at the new home field of Honda Park, the Richmond Pioneers kicked off the new season in emphatic style, defeating Ben United 7-0.

Not to be outdone by Roman Abramovich, Pioneers coach Mike Mogul was busy in the off-season, bolstering the team with five new players. And the new players made solid contributions on their competitive debuts, scoring 4 of the 7 goals.

The visitors started the game brightly, and if it wasn't for their wayward shooting, Ben United could have taken the early lead.

Ten minutes in, Pioneers also missed a great chance to score, with new signing Danny Lazar somehow shooting wide from close range, after he and Ken Johnston had shots blocked by the agile keeper in an entertaining goalmouth scramble.

The Pioneers started to settle down and began to control the game, although Ben United were still looking dangerous with their quick counterattacks. Pioneer keeper Dave Valitis was called upon to make a fine diving fingertip save to deny Ben United a goal.

Thirty minutes into the game, the Pioneers finally got on the scorecard. A period of sustained pressure was rewarded when a corner kick from Alec Aleksic was powered home by Ken Swanston for the Pioneers' first goal of the season.

At the 40 minute mark, Ed Eviston capitalized on a defensive miscue, going in alone with just the keeper to beat, scoring his first goal as a Pioneer. Minutes later, Aleksic would also score his first goal as a Pioneer, lobbing the ball over the vertically-challenged Ben United keeper. 3-0 at the half.

Five minutes into the second half, John Tsang launched a sizzling shot from 35 yards that only had eyes for the far top corner of the net, despite a valiant attempt from the Ben keeper to keep it out.

Now 4-0 Pioneers, the Tsang goal seemed to deflate the spirit of Ben United and the game took on the appearance of a practice scrimmage, with the Pioneers controlling the game comfortably.

At the 55 minute mark, Danny Lazar opened his Pioneer account with a fine individual goal, beating a couple of defenders before rounding the keeper to score the Pioneers fifth goal.

Following a period of sloppy defensive play characterized by the Pioneers giving the ball away far too easily, Valitis was called upon to make another good save, this time tipping the ball over the bar for a corner kick. From the ensuing corner kick, a goal bound shot from 20 yards was headed off the line by Jim 'the assman' Fitzgerald, who willingly sacrificed his pampered coiffure to preserve the shutout.

Ten minutes after having a shot tipped wide by an acrobatic save from the Ben United goalkeeper, Ken Johnston—the Pioneers' leading marksman for the past three seasons—finally got one past the keeper on the 80 minute mark, to give the Pioneer's a 6-0 lead.

The Pioneers went 7-0 up when Eviston added his second of the game, and he could have had a hat-trick but his cheeky attempt to scoop the ball over the keeper was foiled.

The final whistle blew on a surprisingly comfortable victory for the Pioneers. Ben United are a far, far better team than this performance indicated, and they will trouble a lot of teams with their speed and skill.

For the Pioneers, the win represented a club record sixth consecutive Winter League victory, after closing the 2005/6 season with 5 straight wins.

Next week: Away to Langley Aces. If you want to car pool, meet at the Pioneer Pub at 8:45am.

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