FAMILIAR ISSUES PLAGUE VOYAGEURS IN PAIR OF WEEKEND LOSSES

FAMILIAR ISSUES PLAGUE VOYAGEURS IN PAIR OF WEEKEND LOSSES
October 2, 2025

LAC LA BICHE & EDMONTON – Groundhog Day may not be until February 2, but don't try and tell the Portage College Voyageurs that. Head Coach Macky Singh and his soccer players are feeling a lot like Bill Murray these days, reliving the same scenario over and over and over again. Like the movie star in his famous 1993 film, they're sincerely hoping to find a way out of it soon.

 

For yet another weekend, the Voyageurs played well for substantial portions of two tilts versus tough opponents, but a bad start or an untimely breakdown once again cost them valuable points in the ACAC Northern Division standings. On Saturday versus the Keyano College Huskies, the host Voyageurs were a little listless to start the game and fell behind 1-0 in the 24th minute on a Stef Vullinghs goal set up by a beautiful individual effort from Mekai James.

 

To their credit, as they have all season, the Voyageurs picked up their game and generated several scoring chances the rest of the way, with Ridwan Olatunji bringing the home crowd to its feet in the 77th minute, blasting home a strike to tie the score. The joy lasted all of three minutes, however, as Casper Jaartsveld restored the Huskies' lead in the 80th minute and the visitors hung on for the 2-1 win. This is a scenario their head coach has seen too many times this season.

 

"Once again, either we let in a goal early or immediately after we score," said Singh. "That whole mindset, that mentality, that mental strength is not quite there yet and we have to work on that."

 

On Sunday in Edmonton, the Voyageurs had a chance to right the ship against the Concordia Thunder but a bad first half proved costly. Concordia dominated on the shot clock (13 to 2) and on the scoreboard (3-0). And while the second half was an entirely different story, with the visitors carrying most of the play, the deficit proved too much to make up and the Voyageurs left town with a 2-6 record and only four games left to try and move up the standings. Singh knows his players are perfectly capable of playing with any of the teams in the league, but only as long as they play a full 90-minute game.

 

Against Concordia, "in the second half, particularly in the last 25 minutes, we basically camped it in their half…We just kept the ball in there, the lads executed exactly what I wanted them to do, getting crosses in and putting pressure on the back end which I asked them to do from the start," he said. "We never really got it going until the second half. With the guys, it's something that they've got to realize. The league is really competitive, and they have to be in the game from the start. So hopefully that's a lesson."

 

With a rematch against the Thunder on October 4th next on the agenda, Singh believes it's an opportune time for his troops to put in their first 90-minute effort of the season. Of course, getting a lead and holding onto it for more than a few minutes would be a good start.

 

"We've got to be able to play 90 minutes…It seems like we have to go down to get ourselves going which is not going to help if we want to progress and push for those higher spots in the standings so that's something we really have to work on," said Singh. "Not so much on the football side of things but the mental side."