Varsity Soccer: Men’s team off to a rocky start

By Dominic Sramaty [sports bureau chief]
Photos by Kyle Benning

On Sept. 12, the Kwantlen Eagles kicked off the men and women’s soccer team season against the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves.

The men came into the first game of the season with a 2-0-0 record, winning both of their preseason matches. Although Coach Ajit Braich was not anticipating a victory for the young gun Eagles, he did predict a quick and competitive game.

The game started off great for the Eagles when in the ninth minute freshman striker Gino McLeod scored the game’s first goal as a result of an effective high pressure defence. The Timberwolves attempted to rebound quickly with some all out offensive play. However, their only shot went wide.

In the sixteenth minute Josh Miles beautifully played the ball into McLeod who shot the ball off the keeper and into the net. Up 2-0 the Eagles seemed a confident group.

In the twentieth minute Rakan Alquwayfili opened the scoring for the T-Wolves. Alquwayfili was issued a yellow card afterwards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The T-Wolves never looked back after that point, laying on tons of pressure throughout the half. In the thirty-seventh minute Ryan Sidhu committed a careless check from behind, resulting in a yellow card and more importantly, a penalty shot for the Timberwolves. Tyson Williams scored.

From that point on the Eagles applied large amounts of offensive pressure. However it was not enough. In the fifty-fifth minute number ten, Daniel Dell scored for the Timberwolves following a yellow card offence from Kellen Strobi in the fifty-first.

The Eagles fired off four shots before Nick Storness-Bliss received a questionable red card in the Timberwolves’ eighteen yard box. Soon thereafter number nineteen John Sexton put the nail in the coffin for the Timberwolves, scoring in eighty-eighth minute.

Although some questionable referring may have come into play there was one obvious reason for the Eagles loss, discipline. On the day Coach Braich was pleased with the

Eagles play and understands that with a new team there is a long learning process. Even though the Eagles have six returning players on the roster, Braich decided to start the game with nine of his eleven freshmen and only one of his veterans. The Eagles lost 4-2.