Silver medals for Futsal teams

 A pair of silver medals will have to do for both the Cougars’ men’s and women’s Futsal teams after dropping their respective gold medal matches to the Lakeland Rustlers and Medicine Hat Rattlers.

In the men’s final the host Lakel and College Rustlers defeated the Cougars from Calgary by a 3-0 margin.

Earlier in the three-day tournament the Rustlers had lost 6-2 to Mount Royal.

So what was the key to the about swing-a-round?

“The difference was that we had a 10 minute lapse in the first game against them in which we let in four goals and never recovered,” said Rustlers head coach Kevin Wagner, of his team which advanced to the championship with wins over Medicine Hat Rattlers 3-1 and Keyano Huskies 3-0.

“We didn’t react properly with the mental aspect of the game. Take away those 10 minutes out of the 50 and it was basically a 2-2 tie.

“For the championship game we had to be more patient defensively and we kept the Mount Royall team in front of us. As long as we were patient and we didn’t get into foul trouble. We were good at one-versus-one attacking play and combination play.”

Rookie Jordan Smith from Winnipeg sparked the win with two goals.

“He (Smith) was playing on the wing for us and he played a lot of minutes and played them quite well. He was efficient on both sides of the ball and came up with a few key goals.”
Rustlers’ goalie Matt Merilainen for Milet, Alberta was also a key to success as “he came up with some key saves at important times.”

This being the first year of conference play for futsal, Wagner was pleased with the season, “It was a positive experience. The competition on the men’s side was always good and entertaining.”

Wagner would like to see other ACAC schools join futsal but suggests that it remains – due to travel – a tournament based sport.

In women’s finals the Medicine Hat Rattlers defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 1-0 for gold status.

“It (championship) was more exciting than it needed to be… I aged from that game,” joked Rattlers head coach Jim Loughlin. “Any time we play Mount Royal it is a back-and-forth defensive game and in this game both goal keepers were outstanding.”

Second-year player Kirsten Grover scored the lone goal in the opening 10 minutes.

“We did not go into a defensive shell (with the goal). It was really an enjoyable fast paced sort of game," said Loughlin. "It was a game where ourselves and Mount Royal were committed to have the 8-6 or 7-6 type of game with lots of offensive chances.”

- Story content courtesy the ACAC

Men’s Results:
7-1 vs. Keyano
5 -2 vs. Lakeland
6-2 vs. Medicine Hat

Sunday
0-3 vs Lakeland (Silver Medal)

Women’s Results:
8-1 vs. Lakeland
3-3 vs. Keyano College
2-5 vs. Medicine Hat

Sunday
0-1 vs. Medicine Hat (Silver Medal)