Horns soccer learn lessons over weekend

By Lethbridge Herald on September 19, 2022.

Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Cole Jackson tries to make a pass as a Trinity Western University defender tries to check him on Saturday at Community Stadium.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns soccer teams had mixed results on home field over the weekend.

The men’s team lost 4-1 to Trinity Western University on Saturday,  in a game where they were tied at half time.

Kai Sakaguchi opened the scoring at the 8:59 mark for the Horns before the Spartans scored at 33:19 to tie the game at one heading into the break.

The Spartans then scored at 61:49, 63:36 and again at the 90th minute to solidify the win.

“You know we started out flying with a goal,” said Alasdair Coyle.

“But I think after that we kind of turned off for the next little bit, we didn’t play our game and just sat back and got way too comfortable. They pumped one in, tied it 1-1, and then coming out in the second half, we got scored on, went (to) 2-1, and then we just switched off. And once it hit 3-1, we tried to play our game. We did well the last 20-25 minutes to play, but 3-1 is a tough score to come back from.”

Horns coach Davin Haigh said sometimes mental lapses happen and those little mistakes can cost you, especially if you make the mistakes in your own half.

“It’s one of those things that we have to learn from,” he said.

“We’ve talked to them about it, how we can enforce pressure on other teams so we don’t have to worry about those mistakes being so costly and maybe those other teams make mistakes and we can pick up a goal or two.”

The men were shutout 5-0 on Sunday by UNBC Timberwolves and their record falls to 1-6 on the season.

As for the women’s team they gained a 1-1 tie with the UBC Okanagan Heat on Saturday and loss 3-2 to Thompson Rivers University on Sunday.

All the scoring was done in the first half against the Heat as U of L’s Hailey Slobodian opened up the scoring at 24:37 before UBCO’s Amanda White countered 10 minutes later.

On Sunday the Horns found themselves down 3-0 until the 83rd minute before Slobodian scored and Alexa Evis scored at 88:31 and that’s as close they would come.

“I thought the ladies were focused and we were going in to try and get points this weekend,” said head coach Macky Singh.

“We were trying to get six points. Unfortunately we only came out with one. But it’s the way we played, is something that’s really exciting. You know, yesterday (Saturday) against UBCO, we took the lead, they came back, but we kept on pushing and we had  quite a few chances in the last 10-15 minutes to try and pinch a win and unfortunately we didn’t and came out with a tie.”

Singh thought on Sunday, the girls started strong in the first twenty minutes but then phased out.

“They pushed on, took a three-mill lead, but the girls really showed character (and) to come back 3-2 and if we had another five to seven minutes, I think we could have snatched a draw out of that,” said Singh.

The women’s record sits at 0-4-1.

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