LACK OF COMPLETE GAME COSTS VOYAGEURS IN PAIR OF WEEKEND LOSSES
FORT MCMURRAY & LAC LA BICHE – The Portage College Voyageurs played two strong halves this past weekend. Unfortunately, they weren't in the same game.
The College's Men's Soccer Team looked great on Saturday in Fort McMurray, kicking off their regular season in style against the Keyano College Huskies. Taylor Bridger scored in the 25th minute to give the visitors the lead. The second half was a different story, however, as Stef Vullinghs brought the Huskies back to even terms with a goal in the 47th minute.
"We kind of imploded after they scored their first goal," said Voyageur Head Coach Macky Singh.
Able to weather the tide for a while, the dam finally broke in the 80th minute, with Vullinghs adding his second goal of the game – the winner as it turned out – for a 2-1 Keyano victory.
Twenty-four hours later, in the friendly confines of the Bold Centre Soccer Field, the story repeated itself, only in reverse. The Voyageurs weren't terrible, but didn't have a great first half against The King's University Eagles and found themselves down 2-0 at half.
"We didn't really start slow, we just made a couple of mistakes," said Singh. "Literally, the goals (TKU) scored weren't from them creating chances, it was from a poor pass from us, so it was really our mistakes that allowed them to score goals. Teams punish us for our mistakes, so we need to make sure we don't make those kinds of mistakes."
In the next half, however, the Voyageurs really turned it on, despite falling behind 3-0 early in the second on Noah Bilodeau's third goal of the game. They generated several glorious scoring chances – and even had a goal called back for offside – before Bridger added his second marker of the weekend on a penalty kick in the 64th minute. Singh credited second-half sub (and Portage Player of the Game) Michael Musanza for helping to create some much-needed urgency to the field.
"Mikey, he brought a lot of energy and that's what I told him I needed him to do," said the experienced head coach. He did that yesterday as well when he came on. He made a huge difference."
As they prepare to head to Grande Prairie next weekend for a pair of tils versus Northwestern Polytechnic, Singh is hoping his troops can up their game and play two solid halves in the same game.
"We need to try and put the positive pieces together and play a full 90 minutes in one game…We're not at that level at the moment where we can take minutes off so we need to try and put it all together," he said.
Players of the Game (Sunday, Sept. 7)
TKU Eagles: Noah Bilodeau
Portage College Voyageurs: Michael Musanza
