Cougars earn pair of bronze medals

It might be the silver lining of a weekend gone astray, but the Mount Royal University Cougars men’s and women’s soccer teams won’t walk away empty handed, as both squads claimed an ACAC bronze medal to conclude the 2010-11 soccer season.

Cougar Women

In Saturday’s semi-final in Edmonton, the Cougars women’s team was in tough versus the
7-2-1 NAIT Ooks.

The team came out fired up right from the opening whistle, as the Cougars created a number of great chances early, including a missed opportunity off the crossbar in the tenth minute, ending the first-half with a 0-0 score.

In the second frame, head coach Tino Fusco felt the team came out with “the same intensity and drive as the first half,” feeling the Cougars were the better side; however the team continued to fall victim to their own sword, unable to capitalize on a number of opportunities, leaving the game wide open with time winding down.

In a worst case scenario for the Cougars, the team was all but assured to be moving onto overtime, when in the 89th minute, NAIT managed to win a scramble just outside the 18 yard box, swinging in a looping left-footed cross that found the far post of the goal - killing the teams hopes of advancing to Sunday’s final.

The end score read 1-0 Ooks, relegating the Cougar women to Sunday’s bronze medal match.

Though tears were shed on Saturday, the team came back with a renewed sense of purpose on Sunday versus the Grant MacEwan Griffins.

Coach Fusco told the team prior to the game that “what separates good teams from the rest is the ability to bounce back after defeat and prove to yourselves as well as your supporters that you are the better team.”

The Cougars must have been listening. Relaxed and confident, the team opened the scoring early, as fifth-year Meghan MacDonald cut across the face of the 18 yard box and slotted in the opening goal to make it 1-0 MRU.

Grant MacEwan responded minutes later, as Ashley Dixon handed a ball in the box, setting up a successful penalty kick to tie things up at 1-1. As well, Dixon received a yellow card for the infraction, which would come into play in the second half.

Tied up at one, Lucy Tansley would answer back for the Cougars off a seeing-eye free kick that found a home, restoring the Cougars lead to 2-1.

A resilient MacEwan side would continue to test the Cougars, as they yet again climbed out of a deficit, beating Cougars goalie Kelsey Marklund with a shot from beyond the 18 yard box to tie the score at 2-2.

Minutes later, in what could have been a major turning point in the game, MacEwan played a through ball in behind the Cougars defenders and Ashley Dixon already with a yellow, got tangled up with the attacker - receiving her second yellow card of the event and a red card for the match.

With the team now down to ten players, the Cougars desperately tried to hold onto the 2-2 tie and make their way to extra time.

The team was successful in holding off the MacEwan attacks and after 90 minutes the game was tied.

The Griffins were prepared to head straight to penalty kicks (PK), but after some discussion with the officials, and reference to the ACAC operating code (OC) - the MRU team, down a player, wanted to play two 15 minute extra time periods (as per ACAC OC) before going straight penalty kicks.

"As a coach, this was a very proud moment for me. I had the team captain poll the team to see what they wanted to do - play or go straight to PKs - they choose play,” said Fusco.

And ‘play’ the team did, with ten men in the extra time periods - MRU dominated the Griffins with possession and chances, however OT would decide nothing and teams would indeed head to penalty kicks.

For the kicks the Cougars team went with:
1. Chelsey Ruckdashel
2. Corrine Guichon
3. Meghan MacDonald
4. Sam Humprhys
5. Mallory McNab
6. Gillian Doubleday

MacEwan started the shootout missing the first PK on a great save by Ainsley Cardoso-Wagner.

The two teams would trade blows, until MRU missed its fourth shot, hitting the post to tie things up.

Gillian Doubleday, the team’s sixth shooter stepped up and scored, giving MacEwan the opportunity to score and continue the shootout. Unfortunately for them, their final shot missed the goal entirely, giving the Cougars the bronze medal after a hard fought mach.

Player of the game honours went to Mallory McNab for her outstanding play in limiting the opposition's attack.

Prior to the match, fifth-year Meghan MacDonald exclaimed, "We (the Cougars) never go home from the playoffs without a medal,” and MacDonald was certainly right.

Though the season didn’t end with a gold medal, Fusco had one last message for him team.

"I am very proud of the team and the players,” said Fusco. “We sacrifice a lot of training time to get to the playoffs each year and I am truly proud of the players and their effort put forth.
With many of the seniors moving on next year; the days of 10-0-0 will be harder to come by as the team will have a different look next year.”

“As a coach, I wish the three 5th year players: Chelsey Ruckdashel, Ashley Dixon and Meghan MacDonald continued success in their soccer careers and academics. I would also like to thank Corrine Guichon, 4th year graduate of the program for her contributions to the team's success over the past years. These players will be missed.”

Cougar Men

Like the Cougar women, the Cougar men too were left heartbroken after Saturday’s semi-final, facing off against the NAIT Ooks men’s squad, who had defeated the Medicine Hat Rattlers on Friday to advance to the semi's.

The game got out to a rough start as five minutes in; the Ooks had their first lead of the match, as Cougars goalie David Thalheimer came out to challenge a high looping ball that landed at the top of the box, getting caught out of position as the Ooks converted into the open net to make it 1-0.

Thalheimer would make amends, three minutes later, as the Cougars defense continued to struggle, leading to a NAIT breakaway which Thalheimer turned aside with a diving save.

The Ooks offense wouldn’t stop there, as they continued to out-run and out-work the Cougars side, leading to trio of goals before half-time, to give them the decided 4-0 lead heading into the half.

Despite having numerous opportunities throughout the match, the Cougars looked out of sorts; as a number of balls soared over, or hit the side of the Ooks goal, as the teams’ frustrations continued to build.

With no scoring coming from either side in the second half, the Cougars walked away with 4-0 defeat, all but ending their chances for a provincial title repeat.

With the heartbreaking loss, the Cougars re-grouped for Sunday’s action against their cross-town rivals, the SAIT Trojans in the ACAC bronze medal match.

With the sight of an ACAC gold medal gone, both teams took a much more relaxed and fun approach to the game on Sunday, starting a number of rookies and making an array of roster adjustments throughout the match.

Goalkeeper Tudor Dinca made the most of his opportunity to play striker, as the converted net minder tallied a goal in his only action outside the goal crease this season.

Also adding tallies were Justin Farenik (3), Arthur Paszkowski (2) Jamie MacDonald, and Mauricio Ross for the Cougars, who led 6-0 at the half. Robin Singh scored the lone marker for the Trojans, as the final score read 8-1 Cougars.

The Cougars were awarded the ACAC bronze medal, and though the team was looking for a medal of another colour, it was better to go out with a win, as the team captured an ACAC medal for the second straight season.

For both Cougars team, the outdoor soccer season is now complete, but with the addition of Futsal to the ACAC lineup, the Cougars soccer teams will be back in action come January 2011, when the indoor season begins.

Congratulations on a long hard fought battle Cougars and on winning your ACAC bronze medals.