THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
Huskies win over Lethbridge Pronghorns on Sept. 11th, 2011 at Potashcorp Park
A goal by Josh Northey in the second minute of the Huskies’ first game of the season set the tone early in what was a successful opening weekend for the Dogs.
Playing on field 7 in Saskatoon’s PotashCorp Park, the Huskies men’s soccer team put together 3-0 wins on Sept. 10 and 11 against the Calgary Dinos and the Lethbridge Pronghorns, respectively.
“It’s an important momentum boost for the guys,” said Huskies head coach Bryce Chapman after their second game, “but I wasn’t particularly happy with how we played today.”
Calgary was third in the Canada West last year and is a much stronger team than Lethbridge, who were last place. For the Dogs to finish with similar results in each game shows an inconsistency in their weekend’s play.
“I felt we were sharper yesterday,” said Chapman. “We were a bit sloppy today. We were one or two steps behind things.”
Against Calgary, Jordian Farahani put in a header in the 42nd minute and Sam Mylymok buried an open net goal in the 54th minute to add to Northey’s early goal. The defence then shut down any chance the Dinos had at mounting a comeback.
While the defence was also strong against Lethbridge, it came at the expense of penalties. Farahani, Northey and Eoin McFadden of the Huskies were all shown yellow cards.
“Today was a lot scrappier,” said Huskies defenceman Austin Boryski. “The game’s tempo wasn’t there.”
Fortunately, the Dogs were still able to pull out the easy win.
Boryski scored a highlight reel goal after volleying the ball from just outside the box into the top left corner of the net, while Jerson Barandica-Hamilton scored the other two goals including one on a penalty kick early in the first half.
Despite the strong defensive showing, Chapman wants his athletes to play stronger in their next games.
“Defensively we gave limited opportunities to the opposition and we want to continue that, but going into the west coast next weekend, we have to be better,” said Chapman.
The Huskies will be on the road to face the Fraser Valley Cascades on Sept. 17 and the Victoria Vikes on Sept. 18 in British Columbia.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s soccer team was up and down in their season opening weekend Sept. 10 and 11 at Griffiths Stadium.
They suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Calgary Dinos in their opener but came out strong the next day against the Lethbridge Pronghorns with a 4-0 win.
“It was like night and day,” said Huskies head coach Tom Lapointe after the second game. “In the first game we had four players who were new to the lineup. They just had the jitters.”
Calgary took an early lead against the Huskies after the Dinos’ Tessa Miller headed in a Caitlin Milne corner kick in the 29th minute.
The game against Lethbridge was “really good for the girls who haven’t played in Canadian Interuniversity Sport before to get their confidence up.” said Daniela Fuenzalida.
The Huskies were quick to respond, however, after Daniela Fuenzalida scored on a lead pass from Lindsay Manz in the 35th minute.
The game remained deadlocked until the 72nd minute when the Dinos’ Vanessa Graham headed in a cross from Tina Basi.
The Huskies were unable to answer back largely due to the play of Calgary keeper Kristen Barton.
“I thought we could have deserved a tie against Calgary,” said LaPointe, “but that is a team we have to beat if we want to make playoffs.”
In the second game against Lethbridge, the Dogs came out a different team. Four quick goals in the first half were enough to prevent any chance of a Pronghorns victory.
Jenna Newton put the Huskies on the board in the 22nd minute and, two minutes later, Elizabeth Hudon beat her defender and chipped the ball over the Pronghorns keeper to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead.
Fuenzalida sealed the win after burying two more goals off passes from Hudon.
The game against Lethbridge was “really good for the girls who haven’t played in Canadian Interuniversity Sport before to get their confidence up,” said Fuenzalida.
“We feed off stuff like that,” added LaPointe. “It will be good going into a road trip.”
The Huskies will be in British Columbia on Sept. 17 and 18 to face the Fraser Valley Cascades and the Victoria Vikes.
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photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf
