Men's soccer Huskies strike late for first win
The theme through the first half of the season for the Keyano Huskies men's soccer team was one of missed opportunities and close chances that could've tilted the games in their favour.
Sunday in Lac la Biche, Alta., the Huskies broke through and gave themselves, as well as their opposition, a glimpse of their power in a 2-0 win against the Portage College Voyageurs.
"It's finally a reward for playing really well, which we've done throughout most of the games," said head coach Niels Slotboom. "We kept at it and finally [got] a couple of goals to take the first win."
A penalty-kick goal by Tom Wessel in the 88th minute and an injury time goal by Dashawn Kennedy marked just two successful conversions on what was again many chances, but it was more than enough to give the team a sense of belief and a turning of the tide heading into their final two regular season games.
Helping spearhead Sunday's offence was Ayman Hassen, the program's longest tenured member. Coming off the bench to make his season debut, Hassen made a noticeable difference in the offensive progression for the Huskies.
"I'm a vet; I do whatever coach says," said Hassen. "Any time he needs me to come in and step forward, I'll do my job."
He also fought his way into the box, placing his body in harm's way to warrant the penalty call that led to the first goal.
"Ayman did great, [it] was obviously his first start of the season," said Slotboom of Hassen. "He's obviously a character player; he's been around for a long time and has the ability to do that and he finally did that in training this week, which is why he started."
Before the two late conversions, the Huskies appeared headed for another unlucky draw. They were easily controlling the majority of possession, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard like in previous games.
"It's a bit of a rollercoaster that's for sure," noted Slotboom. "When we create a lot of chances, which we do, every time you hit a post or somehow there's a fingertip save or something like that, it gets a little frustrating and it's easy to get down and to stop.
"This time, [the] guys pushed through and then hopefully this gets us over the hill and gets us going for the season."
Players like Hassen were thankful to see his team persevere, realizing what they were capable of a buying into a new level of teamwork he had challenged his team to reach.
"That's the group of guys we have," he said. "We just battle, we battle, we battle. We keep at it.
"We knew it was coming, coach told us it's coming and we just believed in each other and got it done."
Pedja Jovicic was back in net and helped to turn aside the few chances the Voyageurs were permitted throughout the game.
The win vaulted the men back into a playoff spot in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) North Division. The Huskies currently rank fifth in the North Division, ahead of the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves and Voyageurs.
With a 1-2-1 record through four games, the Huskies have a chance to climb higher though that'll require them taking points from the top two teams in the division, NAIT and Lakeland.
The Huskies host the Lakeland Rustlers in their final home game of the 2021 regular season on Saturday, October 9 at Shell Place. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The men will then head to Edmonton to battle the NAIT Ooks on Sunday, October 10.