It was the type of goal athletes dream about throughout their sports careers but rarely do the stars align so perfectly for them to score the coveted championship game-winning goal in overtime.Less than three minutes into extra play of the Howe Sound Men's Soccer League (HSMSL) Premiership Cup on Saturday (April 12) the ball came to United FC's Rory Fulber in Villa FC's box."The ball came in and there was a mix-up, it came right at my chest and I chested it down and hammered it as hard as I could in the bottom left," said Fulber with a big grin after the game."It feels amazing, obviously. Once we got that goal they started to get a little more heated but we kept it simple, kept positive ground."Villa FC battled back and started taking chances in an attempt to even the score, but the Villains eventually handed over a penalty kick to team captain Richard Collins who led the league with 19 goals in 17 games.Villa keeper Allan Carson couldn't put an end to the inevitable as Collins blasted the insurance goal to put United comfortably ahead 2-0."After that it was basically just keep tight at the back and don't let any cheeky ones in to let them back in the game," said Collins, adding he found it easy to score this season with so many offensive players backing him."To be honest we just had a really good team and we had a high-scoring team. I was surrounded by a bunch of good players the chances come when you have a pretty good team behind you."The young United team immediately caused some buzz this year by beating longtime reigning champions Whistler FC 2-1 in the season opener. Collins said the win brought the team together early and helped propel them to a first-place record of 11 wins, four draws and two losses. "It was good right from the first game of the year. We were down 1-0, basically in the 80th minute, and we scored two goals and ended up winning that one 2-1 so after that it was nice to build momentum for sure."Meanwhile, Villa tried to carry over the momentum from their semi-final overtime win against Whistler the prior weekend. Although Carson weathered a barrage of shots in the first half, the levy eventually broke when he was screened in overtime."It was a solid game and we played all right but they're a pretty strong opponent with lots of shots always," he said. "[Coming in] second place two years in a row is disappointing but it shows good promise." It is possible Villa and United may meet again at Soccerfest, which starts Saturday (April 19) at Brennan Park. In Divisional Cup play, Brew Pub watched Ellis Moving beat Tantalus Toner 6-4 in the final round-robin match, which meant Brew Pub took the title with a win against Ellis and a draw versus Tantalus.
