Trojans split with Medicine Hat
MEDICINE HAT, ALTA., (Oct. 6, 2019) — The SAIT Trojans soccer teams were on both ends of a shutout on Sunday afternoon.
Playing a pair of Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) road games against the host Medicine Hat College Rattlers, the men's side won 2-0, while the women's team lost by that same score.
The men's team improved to 5-1-1 on the season with the win, which saw both their goals come late in the contest.
"I think we're struggling to link up from one side of the field to the other, but once we did find a way to score, we were able to settle into the game," said Trojans head coach Connor Brady. "Staying patient was part of the plan, and we waited for our chance to come. When it did, we made good on it."
Zach Michaud (1st year, Calgary, Nutrition for Healthy Lifestyles) scored his second goal in as many days, while Emmanuel Ngegba (1st year, Calgary, Business Administration) added an insurance marker with seconds left in the contest.
SAIT will now turn their attention to this coming week, where they will play three games in four days – Thursday at Olds College (2pm), Friday at Ambrose University at 6pm, and Sunday at home against the University of Alberta-Augustana (2pm).
Thursday's game is a makeup from a snowed-out contest on Sept. 29.
"We like to think that one of the reasons why we put so much work into our fitness during the pre-season is things like this can happen in this league. Games can fall on to your plate really, really quick," Brady added. "For us, we're deep, but we're going to need a team effort to get through those three games."
In the women's game, Trojans head coach John Talerico said his team just didn't have it on Sunday.
"We were completely flat," he said. "We came out slow in the first 15 minutes, and they capitalized on it. We gained speed as the game went on, but it was a poor performance today. We didn't execute at all."
SAIT falls to 2-3-2 on the season, and sits in sixth place in the ACAC South Division standings.
The teams will now play three games this coming week. On Thursday, they will meet the host Olds College Broncos in a makeup game stemming from the snowstorm that hit the Calgary area on the weekend of Sept. 28-29.
Game time is set for 4pm.
The other two games go Friday at Ambrose University at 4pm, and Sunday at home against the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings at 2pm.
Talerico knows his team has a lot of work to do if they want to be one of the three teams from the division to make the playoffs.
"We talked after the game, and I told the players that they are going to have to look inside themselves at this point," he stated. "They need to focus on being better when it comes to working together as a team. Today, we didn't do that at all."