Squamish FC played its first Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) game of the season on Sunday (Sept. 7), battling Shaheen FC to a 1-1 tie on the road on new turf fields at North Vancouver's Sutherland Secondary School.Squamish played Shaheen to the exact same result in last year's opener, which paved the way for six more tie games over the 18-game season. Every one-point draw meant two points were lost and Squamish went on to place third despite only losing four games.However, manager Dave Harrison said he is not nervous the squad will repeat last year's habitual flaw despite starting the season with yet another dreaded draw."It's the first game and when you have quite a few new players it's going to take a few games for them to gel," he said. "I think if we had taken our chances we'd of won the game handily. And we did get a bit tired towards the end."Gary O'Neil opened the scoring by knocking a Matt Rollinson corner kick down with his chest, beating a defender and booting it to the back of the net. Squamish continued with solid offensive pressure but couldn't notch an insurance goal. Shaheen tied it up on a cross ball with about five minutes left in the second half.A number of Squamish players are in the Howe Sound Men's Soccer League (HSMSL) and were playing their second game of the day. Between the day's heat and matching a short squad of 15 players against Shaheen's 25 players, Squamish couldn't keep up a high pace through to the end, said Harrison."The guys talked after the game and decided that if it happened again they would not play the morning game."But with home games on Saturdays and men's league bouts on Sunday he hopes fatigue doesn't become an ongoing problem. Squamish has a number of key players returning like O'Neil, Sedgwick, Mike Emerick and Tim Shier to name a few. The team also has a number of talented new players like Todd Vass, Jeremy Galley and John Carroll who are set to contribute and build on last year's return to the VMSL after Squamish took a long hiatus from the league. Squamish reentered the league with eight wins, six ties and four losses for 30 points last season. Galley replaced John Cameron between the posts and had a solid debut, said Harrison."He definitely played well and had a couple of really nice saves," he said.Squamish is now in Division 2 "C" after playing last year in Division 2 "B." The level of play is the same and the league simply mixes up the divisions to create different match-ups.Squamish plays its home opener on Saturday (Sept. 13) against Desmesh FCat 2 p.m. at Brennan Park.
