Men’s soccer team continues losing ways

By Amanda Hu

The Dinos men’s soccer team sipped from the cup of bitter defeat after losing to the University of Saskatchewan and University of Alberta Sep. 15 and 16.

Saturday’s game against U of S saw a quick goal from the Huskies in the first 20 minutes from Duncan McDougall. Calgary fought back with a penalty-kick goal from Ryan Holbrook. It would, unfortunately, be their only goal of the game.

The second half was another opportunity for Saskatchewan as Jerson Barandica-Hamilton took advantage of confusion close to Calgary’s goal and scored again for his team. Both goalkeepers were formidable throughout the game as shots on goal stood at 11-8 for the Huskies, with their ‘keeper making six saves.

The Dinos had another opportunity to break their unlucky streak when they faced off against the U of A Golden Bears Sep. 16.

The game was tight throughout, with Alberta asserting possession control in the first half. J.R. Castrillon-Rendon led a strong go at the Dinos net, resulting in the team’s first goal. Their domination continued as John Konye pushed through Calgary’s defence to score on goalkeeper J.P. Crescenzi.

The Dinos made a stronger attempt in the second half, trying desperately to score on the Bears’ Jas Gill. Calgary’s David Bird made their only goal of the game, assisted by Fernando Di Capua and Tanner Farenik, at 84 minutes, unfortunately too late to give the team an opportunity to even up the score.

Coach Andy Gibbs has a challenge in front of him with this year’s team. The Dinos are currently fielding 14 rookies out of the team’s 23 members, causing a noticeable block in their winning momentum.

“We’re naïve and young and it’s costing us goals,” he said. “We don’t understand the arena yet because it’s too competitive.”

Though the team is, at this point, very young, Gibbs is hopeful about building on this year for future seasons.

“We’re willing workers and we try very hard, but I don’t think we’re competitive this year,” he explained. “Next year, we have four returning [players] and six new recruits and I think there is a lot of potential there.”

Crescenzi is still hopeful about the team’s chances this season.

“We were prepared but we’re just a little young,” he said. “We’re a little immature. We’ve got eight or nine rookies on the team now. They’re prepared to play but they’re just not quite ready to play at this level. We can’t be using that as an excuse anymore because we’re already two weeks into the season.”

Crescenzi added the team needs to be more competitive going into their games.

“I think we definitely won the second half [against Alberta],” he said. “The first half, we were a little slow but we came out and won the second half, scored a goal and came a little closer but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to come back and win.”

The team now stands at 0-1-3 and will need to step it up in order to save face for the rest of the season.