By Amanda VanSteelandt and Tanya DeLyzer
The Dinos men’s soccer team can’t seem to win for trying. On a chilly afternoon, the University of Victoria Vikes bared the brisk winter-like temperatures here in Calgary to beat the Dinos men 5-1 Sun., Oct. 24. With a delayed game due to snow on the field and a sparse gathering of fans, the men just couldn’t pull things together.
Will Moore of the Vikes opened the scoring frenzy eight minutes into play, with an assist by Kyle Finner. Finner then went on to score himself ten minutes later. This goal, however, was quickly answered by Jon Remmer of the Dinos, who managed to knock one in off the post to make the score 2-1. This only egged on the freezing Vikes, who responded with a goal by Pat Gawrys a minute later and another from Kingsley Jones before the half finished. The half-time score was 4-1 for the Vikes. It seemed that the cold weather did not affect the play of the Vikes, only their attitude.
The cold weather scared some fans away from the second half, but not the Dinos men. The second half of the game went much better for our boys, who played solidly against the senescent Vikes. With Brian “Ginger” McDonald as keeper, the Dinos managed to only allow one goal by Kyle Finner of the Vikes in the final regulation minute to make the final score 5-1.
Perhaps the cold weather worked in advantage for the Dinos in the second half, paralyzing the Vikes’ stronger game. Either way, they didn’t enjoy it, as proven by the Vikes’ keeper when he exclaimed, “Yes, let’s get the fuck out of this weather,” when the final whistle blew.
Look out Vikes, the weather will only be colder Nov. 6-7 for the Canada West Finals right here at the University of Calgary.
The game against the Trinity Western University Spartans was postponed from Sat., Oct. 23 to Mon., Oct. 25 because of concerns that TWU might wander off into the snowstorm in their virginal white uniforms. Monday was clear and sunny, and the men’s prospects for winning this one seemed to be the same. Alas, it was not to be.
Despite dominating the first half and good chances for the Dinos coming from many players, the Spartans’ keeper Chris Cecil shut them out. Even the Dinos’ sweeper, Adam “Oni” Onuluv, made a beautiful rush and setup that came to nought. It seemed the only Dino without a scoring chance was keeper Brian “Ginger” McDonnell, who played solidly at the back.
At the end of the first half, McDonnell tipped a hard shot over the crossbar, but was thwarted by the ball’s arrogant defiance of the laws of gravity. After appearing to hover on top of the crossbar for an instant, the ball fell back in front of the net and was tipped in by Josh McCaig of the Spartans.
The second half was more evenly competitive, and the final score stood at 1-0 for TWU. They didn’t deserve the win, and all of their shorts had panty lines.
The snow has taken a toll on the Dinos.
“Unless you can practice all week, you can’t be competitive,” Head Coach Andy Gibbs explained. “[We] need a synthetic surface to practice.”
But the positive to this weekend in Gibbs’ eyes was “that [he] got everyone in the game.” The Dinos will have more experience playing on the crappy, snow-laden field in chilling weather than any of the teams at the fast approaching Canada West Finals.
There are only two games remaining in the men’s regular season, both against the feeble University of Lethbridge Pronghorns. The first game is at Lethbridge Sat., Oct. 30. Their final game is at the U of C field at 2:15 p.m. on All Hallows Eve. Hopefully it will be a spooktacular ego-booster before heading into the finals.