Trojans wrap up first, set sights on redemption
OLDS, ALTA., (Oct. 19, 2019) — This time around, the SAIT Trojans men's soccer team would like to take care of some unfinished business.
For the second year in a row, the Trojans will enter the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Championship (hosted by NAIT in Edmonton) as the South Division's No. 1 seed. The Trojans locked that position down this weekend, as they wrapped up their regular season on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over the host Olds College Broncos.
"I think this season has been good for us," said Trojans head coach Connor Brady. "We've faced a lot of adversity this year which has made us stronger, and it's nice to go into the Championship with a competitive game like we had today. Their field suits their type of play and not ours, but we stayed patient and ended up with the win."
The Trojans went 10-1-1 in the regular season.
Last year, SAIT was upset by the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder in the semifinal of the ACAC Championship. They ultimately went on to win the bronze medal, but it goes without saying that Brady would like to take it a step further this season.
"We have many returning players from last year that still have a bad taste in their mouth from that game. We're looking for some redemption," he stated.
In Sunday's contest, the game went a full 85 minutes before SAIT's Joseph Lambele (3rd year, Fort McMurray, Alta., Business Administration) fired a shot into the Olds net to break the scoreless tie and score the game-winning goal.
"It's difficult to remain calm, stay the course and do what's worked all year for you when the goals aren't coming," Brady said. "But that's what we did. We stayed together, kept our composure and it worked out in the end."
SAIT will have a bye into this coming weekend's Championship. They will play the winner of the South's No. 3 seed, Red Deer College, and the North's second-ranked Concordia in Saturday's semifinal game at Emerald Hills Regional Park at 6:30pm.