Nanaimo United went into the Jackson Cup playoffs as an underdog, but now it has to be considered one of the teams to beat.
United pulled off a convincing 3-0 win on Saturday at Merle Logan Field against Gordon Head, a team that has twice as many wins as Nanaimo in league play.
“The boys have really started to come together and the hard work just paid off,” said Bill Merriman, coach of United’s Div. 1 men. “It gives us a big boost.”
Nanaimo and Gordon Head played a scoreless first half, then Chris Arnett opened the scoring in the 55th minute. James Merriman scored in the 67th minute, then added another in the 85th minute. Robbie Cochrane posted the shutout.
“Their team was starting to get tired so we felt if we went at them and moved the ball quicker that it could pay off for us and fortunately it did, because we caught them a little flat-footed in the second half,” said the coach.
The challenge doesn’t get any easier as playoffs progress. United is now matched up against Sooke Celtic in the next round; the teams play Friday (March 11) at the Log in Victoria.
“They’re probably not as good of a team technically as this team,” said Bill Merriman. “But [they’re] physical and they always have a little bit of an upper hand at their home field.”
There won’t be any Nanaimo versus Nanaimo matchup later on in the Jackson Cup playoffs, as United’s Div. 2 men were eliminated Sunday by Cowichan FC in penalty kicks in Duncan to settle a 2-2 tie. Sonny Hill and Thomas Anderson scored for the good guys.
Nanaimo’s U21 men, meanwhile, advance in their George Smith Cup playoffs following a 1-0 win over Cowichan on Saturday at Merle Logan Field. Kyle Frazer scored the game winner and Sean Lawrence posted the shutout.
United's premier women's team lost 2-1 Sunday to Prospect Lake in Victoria in the Terry Price Cup semifinals. Bronte Fitzsimmons staked Nanaimo to a 1-0 lead in the 60th minute, but the Lakers capitalized on some errors to pull out the win. Nanaimo coach Anup Kang said his players got several shots past the opposing keeper that were cleared off the goal line by defenders.
"We totally dominated this game and it could have been 4-0 or 5-0 for us, but against that team for some reason we [couldn't] put them away," he said.
The day before, United’s Div. 1 women beat Castaway 3-1 in Ladysmith in the Doug Day Cup playoffs.