The battle for first place in the Howe Sound Men's Soccer League (HSMSL) turned out to be a defining victory for Khalsa.
The team defeated second-place Sikh Temple 4-2 on Sunday (Feb. 12) to increase its league lead to five points. The two teams had split their previous two games, trading 3-1 victories with Temple winning on Sept. 18 and Khalsa on Oct. 23.
Sunday's game saw Khalsa's Russell Adams open the scoring 10 minutes in, converting off of a corner kick, but Temple answered 15 minutes later when Nevin Binning scored off of a rebound following a penalty kick. Khalsa's Binne Salina added a late goal to give his team a 2-1 lead heading into the half.
Early in the second half, after a number of deflections after a corner, the ball found the back of the net and Khalsa had its first two-goal lead of the morning. Binning added his second goal of the game at the 75-minute mark to draw Temple within one, but Adams picked up his second goal, fooling the keeper on a long shot to secure the 4-2 win.
Khalsa improved to 10 wins and one loss, while Temple dropped to eight wins, two losses and one tie.
In the other early HSMSL game, Automind moved into sole possession of fourth place with a 2-1 win over the Ellis Moving Eagles. Charlie Robinson and Istvan Richter scored for Automind, with Kurt Teixeira scoring the lone goal for the Eagles. Automind improved to four wins, six losses and one tie, while the Eagles fell to three wins, seven losses and one tie.
The afternoon game was a forfeit as last-place Zephyr did not have enough players to field a team against Galileo.
For more information on the HSMSL, visit www.howesoundmens.snappages.com.
