A.C. Reserves Their Spot in the Finals

Riley Gallant out-muscles his SFC Panthers opponent to win the ball. A.C. outpaced the Panthers 4-0 to win the semi-final matchup.

Photo courtesy of Randy Downes

Having battled through the group stages of Conference Cup earlier in the season, the semi-final match-ups were set. On one side, the SFC Scoripions would play Langley United and on the other, Guildford A.C. would play the SFC Panthers. In the group stage Guildford went a perfect 3-0 without surrendering a goal in all three games. SFC went 2-0-1 in the group stage allowing just a single goal.

A.C.'s and the Panther's previous match in league play saw Guildford handily dismantle the SFC squad 6-0. However, with a birth in the finals on the line, Guildford was erasing all memory of that game for fear of overconfidence. Knowing that knockout games can often take on a very different spirit as the level of competition raises, A.C. was determined to avoid that pitfall.

In the early going SFC was very aggressive and marked Guildford tightly not allowing any kind of build up. Defensively, A.C. didn't budge despite being pressed by the Panther's attack. Midway through the first half, Guildford's fitness took over as they were able to keep up their work rate as SFC slowly faded and the scoring opportunities started to come for the home side. The opening goal came on a corner that was delivered into the box and was eventually toed in after a couple deflections. Shortly after, A.C. doubled their lead when the SFC keeper made a rare mistake and got caught out of goal and was chipped from well out. Guildford took a 2-0 lead into the half.

In the second half, Guildford looked very strong and SFC struggled to keep up despite having five subs to A.C.'s three. The home side stuck steadfastly to the gameplan of hard work and trust in tactics and took over the game. The back-breaking goal came on a great run forward out of the back line. A.C.'s left back jumped up quickly as the play switched and managed to catch the Panthers in transition, a quick move to dribble an SFC defender 1v1 put him in with just the keeper to beat; a great shot was tucked in low off the far post for 3-0 lead. One more goal came after for a 4-0 final.

The hard work A.C. had put into fitness after the break definitely showed as Guildford looked just as fresh in the last five minutes as they did in the opening five. With the win, A.C. will play in the Cup final on March 7th. Next week, Guildford gets back to work on chasing the league championship with a game against the Langley United Gladiators. Guildford A.C. and the SFC Scorpions are locked in a tie atop the league table, if neither team falters in the final few games, the league championship will be decided in the final game of league play as the Scorpions and A.C. are matched the last day, February 28th.