VOYAGEURS LOSE TWICE BUT HANG TIGHT WITH TKU AND NAIT

VOYAGEURS LOSE TWICE BUT HANG TIGHT WITH TKU AND NAIT
October 17, 2024

LAC LA BICHE & ST. ALBERT – Crave TV is currently airing a documentary series titled The Rebuild, the story of the Montreal Canadiens and their efforts to build a perennial Stanley Cup contender from scratch. A similar series could be made about Macky Singh and the Portage College Voyageurs Men's Soccer Team. During his first year at the helm of the program, the veteran head coach is trying to instill the right habits, the right fundamentals, and the right instincts that serve as some of the building blocks to a successful program. This past weekend showed that while they're on the right track, the Voyageurs still have some distance to travel.

 

On a cold and damp Friday night in Lac La Biche, the Voyageurs played an exciting match against The King's University (TKU) Eagles, falling behind 1-0 in the 20th minute before tying the game in the 81st minute on a beautiful marker by Patrick Moreira. With a cold but enthusiastic crowd cheering them on, the Voyageurs pushed the pace and tried for the winner, only to give a goal in the 90th minute to TKU's Player of the Game, Matthew Hinteregger. Cue Elvis and "Heartbreak Hotel."

 

"We actually played pretty well," said Singh. "We attacked well, we defended well. We fell behind 1-0 and then we came back strong. And then we tried to push it. Maybe in hindsight we should've just gone for a draw, but we tried to go for the win."

 

Less than 24 hours later, a pair of errors led to two quick NAIT goals, and the Voyageurs found themselves down 2-0 by the 18-minute mark against the second place Ooks in St. Albert. Not ideal, but, unlike in previous years, the deficit didn't snowball from there.

 

"We started slow in the first half," said Singh. "A couple of mistakes cost us…but in the second half, we got better and actually, in the second half we competed well. We had a few chances and then we made a mistake again and they scored."

 

Make the final NAIT 3 Portage 0. As he prepares his squad for their final games of the season – Oct. 19 in Lakeland and Oct. 20 at home versus Keyano – Singh knows his players need to cut down on their errors if they hope to taste success. He also knows that learning from mistakes is part of the important and necessary – and yes, sometimes painful – learning process.

 

"We're only going to get better from here from all this learning," he said. "It's what we're looking for as we build the building blocks."

 

 

 

Players of the Game

 

October 11:

 

October 12:

Portage: #3 Bjorn Goolie