EDC FC Burnaby is off to its first Vancouver Metro Soccer League Imperial Cup final.
The Burnaby-based premier division soccer club earned a spot against first-place West Van FC in next weekend's cup final following a 2-1 victory over Inter FC at Memorial Park on Friday.
Played under miserable conditions on a rain soaked artificial turf pitch, EDC got off to a poor start, giving up a penalty kick to Inter in the 25th minute just when the Burnaby club was seemingly finding its rhythm.
"The early start and field set up made us rush our pre-game talk and our warm-up felt rushed. We did not seem ready at the start of the match and it showed," said EDC head coach Claudio Ramirez.
With less than 10 minutes to go in the first half, EDC caught a break, when the field lights went, allowing both sides a breather for 15 minutes before finishing off the half.
The unexpected break allowed EDC to refocus and the Burnaby side responded, tying up the match within a minute of the restart on a clinical finish from Habib Mohamed off a Josh Hardy set up.
Two minutes later, Eric Ray set up Mohamed again but the Inter keeper just got a hand on the ball and it rang off the goalpost.
In the second half, EDC was more sure of itself. The defence, anchored by former Cameroon international and Vancouver Whitecap Narcisse Tchoumi, kept Inter's long, searching passes mostly to the outside, allowing the Burnaby side to counter on offence.
A key moment in the latter period came on a second Inter penalty-kick opportunity when Brendan Djambarov tripped up an opposition player in the box.
This time, Vasquez was up to the challenge, coming up with a game-saving stop on Inter's leading goal scorer Milad Mehrabi.
The stop appeared to inspire EDC and the club came through in the 89th minute with the game-winning goal on Mohamed's second tally of the game.
Ray set things up off an EDC counter attack, slipping the ball to Mohamed, who got in behind the Inter defence and buried his chance with a sure finish.
The win advanced EDC to the Imperial Cup final against West Van FC at Trilium Turf East on Sunday. Game time is 2:30 p.m.
West Van defeated Croatia SC 6-0 - its largest point spread this season - in the other semifinal
"West Van is a different animal," said Ramirez about the cup matchup. "Their work rate is very high and they will be tough. We need to ensure we take full advantage of our speed up front and keep our emotions in check. It's a huge game for our club and we hope to leave Burnaby stamped on the Imperial Cup."
