Horns men’s soccer gain new outlook after win

By Lethbridge Herald on September 16, 2022.

Herald File photo Seward University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Alasdair Coyle tries to slide the ball past a sliding Grant MacEwan defender in an early September game at Community Stadium. The Horns finally got their first victory in five years last weekend.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s soccer have plenty to build on for two games this weekend after a much-needed win in Calgary on Sept. 11.

The team’s excitement level raised substantially  after the program beat the University of Calgary Dinos 2-1, which was their first victory since 2017.

“For me, it was always about getting these guys under the new playing style and just making sure how we lost and how we won mattered,” said head coach Davin Haigh, who is in his first year with the program.

“There’s always that mental barrier of getting through and getting that first win. Now that they have it, I think they’re able to take some of that stress off themselves. So hopefully we can play with a little bit more freedom and a little bit more creativity and I’m looking forward to see how things go moving forward.”

The boys met after losing to Mount Royal the previous day 5-0 to reset for the U of C game.

“I think the boys did a really good job of doing that,” he said.

“They just reset and came out flying and they were able to keep the pressure on Calgary, which got us the victory.”

The Horns return to home turf this weekend against Trinity Western University on Saturday and University of Northern British Columbia on Sunday and the training has amped up since the big win.

“The energy has been good in training,” said Haigh.

“So we’ve been able to optimize our training and everyone’s  kind of got the mindset now that they know what the sacrifices are now to get a win.”

“That was huge,” said Haigh, on the win.

“For the guys, it was really more of a self-discovery. So they were able to really kind of  find it within themselves. So they know they’re good enough to compete at this level. So that’s kind of  been an ongoing issue with the program.”

 Both games kick off at 2:15 p.m. at  Community Stadium.