When you don’t score, it’s hard to win. This lesson was reinforced when the University of Calgary men’s soccer team visited Edmonton last Sat., Sept. 15 and played the University of Alberta. The next night they learned an equally valuable lesson: Scoring at will doesn’t come with any guarantees either.
The Battle of Alberta, pitch style, was originally scheduled for Friday evening, but was moved to Saturday due to the National Day of Mourning. Maybe it broke their flow or lost their groove. Whatever the reason, the Dinos failed to score in Edmonton while allowing the Golden Bears to notch three goals. The Daca Jesic and Kurt Bosch duo was particularly deadly, hooking up on all three U of A goals.
Where did all the offence go? Apparently to Saskatoon.
Not even a stellar outing by striker David Hernandez-Cachero was enough to lift the Dinos to victory on Sunday against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The Firefighting Spaniard (as he will herein be known) had a trio of tallies to pace the soccersaurs to a four-goal performance. However, the sled dogs from Saskatoon did them one better and took the contest 5-4.
Nine markers is a hefty total for any match and this wild one was no exception. Though the Dinos jumped out to an early two-goal lead on goals by Hernandez-Cachero and Jon Remner, the Huskies scored late in the first half and three times to open the second to set our boys back on their heals. While their performance the rest of the game was much better, the early second half lapse was far too costly.
Heading into a couple of games this weekend against the University of Victoria on Sept. 22 and the University of British Columbia on Sept. 23, defence will be key. The west coast teams are generally dominant in Canada West play–an extra four months of summer helps–so these games will be a chance for the boys to prove they can equal last years playoff season.
Allowing an average of four goals a game will make this a very long season for the Dinos.