VOYAGEURS GOBBLE UP IMPRESSIVE WINS OVER THANKSGIVING
LAC LA BICHE & LLOYDMINSTER – In an already historic season, Thanksgiving weekend was gravy for the Portage College Voyageurs.
Heading into a home-and-home series versus the Lakeland College Rustlers, the Voyageurs already had more points this season than at any time in their seven-year history. Instead of playing like turkeys, however, they put the trimmings on a couple of impressive performances and gobbled up a couple of important wins. The Voyageurs are now undefeated in three straight games and sport a record of 4-6-1, good enough for fifth place in the ACAC Northern Division.
"This is already the best performance in our program's history," said proud Head Coach Macky Singh, who's been working to mold the Voyageurs into a consistently competitive squad since he first arrived a little less than three years ago.
On Thursday night in the friendly confines of the Bold Centre Soccer Field, the Voyageurs controlled most of the play – particularly in the second half – and raced out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Johann Bohard and Benjamin Hyrsky. A Ben Touw goal in the 84th minute made things interesting, but the home squad managed to hang on for a 2-1 win.
Less than 48 hours later, on the road in Lloydminster, the Voyageurs again jumped ahead 2-0 on goals by Gourgy Akuei and Bjorn Goolie, before Vinicius Da Silva cut the deficit in half in the 83rd minute. Michael Musanza converted a chance in the 90th minute to provide some breathing room and the Voyageurs left town with a 3-1 victory. Despite dominating large portions of both games and coming away with six points in the standings, Singh was still concerned with breakdowns and bad stretches where the Voyageurs seemed to be on their heels and panicking a bit in their own zone. He noted he has yet to see a 90-minute effort in any game this season.
"That's something that we really have to work on after the end of the season and really look at why we're not mentally able to keep the game going or at least close the game out…We continue letting teams in the game and we need to learn how to put them away," he said.
The experienced head coach noted that the Voyageurs will need to bury their chances and play a full 90 minutes if they want to beat ACAC North Division leaders NAIT on Saturday in Lac La Biche. He views it as a good test for his squad.
"It'll be interesting to see how we apply ourselves after a draw and two wins in our last three games…It would be nice to finish on a positive," said Singh. "It'll be challenging for sure, it'll be tough, but we'll see where we go from that game."
Portage Players of the Game
- Thursday, Oct. 9: #5 Johann Bohard
- Saturday, Oct. 11: #29 Nicholas Santos
