By Amanda Hu
The men soccersaurs at the University of Calgary had a hope-instilling weekend with one strong win and an understandable loss, peppered with some questionable calls on the West Varsity Soccer Pitch Sep. 22 and 23.
Going into the games, the team faced a must-win situation. They only had one point from a tie thus far and losing the weekend would mean abandoning championship aspirations for this season. This fact placed a lot of pressure on the teams that worked for and against them.
Saturday’s game against the Fraser Valley Cascades kicked off with a strong effort from the Dinos, as they managed to keep the ball in the Cascades’ end. The momentum was apparent as the guysaurs hit the opposing team’s goal in the first 5 minutes. David Bird led the initiative as he worked off a throw in by Calgary forward Lauren Ramos.
The Cascades took their first effort at the Dinos’ net after Spencer Schmidt made a go at goalkeeper Brian McDonnell. It was, luckily, unsuccessful and helped the Dinos maintain their promising lead.
The end of the first half was rife with scandal as a call on Fraser Valley’s Jordan Langelaar was ruled as a goal kick, inciting increased animosity from both teams. The Cascades used the emotional confusion to their advantage and intercepted several Dinos’ passing attempts, including one between Ramos and Ryan Holbrook, though nothing resulted in a goal.
The second half saw Fraser Valley’s first goal at 50 minutes by Schmidt. The Dinos didn’t let the tie lie as Holbrook took advantage of a fumble by Cascades goalkeeper Estevan Garcia and some quick thinking of Calgary’s Bird. Holbrook was also an accomplice in the Dinos’ next goal as he fed the ball to Ramos, who blasted it into Fraser Valley’s net.
The forward rounded off his strong day with a near miss and then a goal from a free kick, bringing the score to a solid 4-1 for his team, their first win of the season.
The Dinos’ second game of the weekend saw them face off against the Trinity Western Spartans as cold weather plagued both teams throughout the match. Play was common in the middle of the court as neither team managed to assert initial offensive control.
As the game continued in the first half, Holbrook again shined, aiding ‘keeper J.P. Crescenzi in several clears that made it into the Spartans’ end.
Spartan Mustafa Demirci made several promising attempts at Calgary’s goal, including taking advantage of Cresenzi’s confusion after a corner kick. These efforts built momentum for the team as defender Patrick Kelly kicked the ball towards Justin Cordick which made its way behind Cresenzi’s goal.
The Dinos kicked off the second half with a good clear into the Spartans zone. Brian Delaney managed the team’s goal after a setup from Matthew Deeprose. After the goal, the Dinos noticeably picked up their passing and maintaining their possession, displaying more playing maturity than has been seen in recent games.
After a scramble inside of the Dinos’ zone, the Spartans scored their second and winning goal, with Cordick pushing his free kick past ‘keeper Cresenzi. Despite the Dinos efforts, they couldn’t even up the score, as it settled at 2-1.