Pronghorns men’s soccer team loses a tough one to the Dinos

By Dale Woodard on October 5, 2021.

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s soccer team knows they’re knocking on the door of their first win.

However, one – or rather two – unfortunate bounces prevented that from happening Saturday afternoon as the Horns dropped a tough 2-1 decision to the Calgary Dinos in Canada West play at the University of Lethbridge Stadium.

With the score tied 1-1 after the Dinos drew even on a penalty kick in the 80th minute, a couple fluky hops completed the visitors’ late-game comeback.

In the 84th minute, a shot from Calgary’s Nahum Tsegai banked off two Pronghorn defenders, hit the crossbar and went in the net.

The Dinos capped off the weekend with a 2-0 sweep Sunday with a 4-0 win in Calgary as the Horns fall to 0-5 on the season.

“I think it was focusing on the things we did well,” said Pronghorns’ head coach Randy Bardock.

“I think of some of the combination plays we had and the counter attacking we did and the high-quality scoring chances we created and even defensively how we kept our shape and played. There were so many positives to take from it, especially when a game ends on a goal like that. You kind of forget all the good things that happened in the game and unfortunately soccer can be a cruel game sometimes. You can play phenomenal and still come out on the short end.”

On Saturday, the Pronghorns got their first goal of the season when Karim Bey found the back of the net in the seventh minute.

Horns netminder Nolan French was called upon to keep it 1-0 in the 62nd minute with a big save off a Dinos’ header from in close.

Going back the other way, Pronghorn Alasdair Coyle had a great chance in the 66th minute, but Dinos goaltender Jake Ruschkowski was able to get his foot on the shot and keep it out.

Calgary was awarded a penalty kick in the 80th minute when French and Dinos forward Kyarash Nakhjiri each went for a ball shot into the keeper’s box.

Dino James Greco-Taylor converted the kick to tie the game 1-1 before the own goal four minutes later put Calgary ahead for good.

“Even Calgary knew they got away with one,” said Bardock. “We’re a young team and we’re finding out how thin that line is between winning and losing and sometimes it’s the littlest of things that make such a difference.”

On Sunday, the Dinos held a 1-0 lead at the half before adding three more in the second half.

With a few breaks in the first half, Bardock felt his team could have been leading at halftime.

“Our first half I thought we played fantastic again. We probably should have been ahead 1-0 after four minutes. Karim got a partial break and their goalie made a huge save. About 10 minutes later we hit the post, so we had some great chances.

“They scored on their first chance and it was off a miscommunication in the back. But we went in down 1-0 feeling very good about how we played. We had played three halves of soccer against this team and I think we were the better team in all three halves. We just weren’t getting the results.”

In the second half, the Pronghorns dealt with the wind and got away from what worked for them in the first half.

“The first goal they got we had possession and lost possession and playing on not-the-best field, we talked about being safe,” said Bardock. “We made a mistake and they punished us for it. It was kind of one-way traffic after that. We really struggled to find our feet again. The effort was great, but it wasn’t a smart effort. Instead of playing a team game it was more individualistic and that just hurt us more and more as the half went on.”

The Pronghorns get another shot at their first win of the season in a pair of home games this weekend as the Alberta Pandas come to town Saturday and Sunday.

Game time both days is 2:15 p.m. at the U of L Stadium.

“I think we’re still a very young team and this was a part of the learning process, can you learn from your mistakes?” said Bardock. “Right now, I don’t want to say we’re our own worst enemy, but we’re getting opportunities and we’re not capitalizing and we’re giving the opposition an opportunity and they’re punishing us. We have to be a bit more focused on going forward and when we’re going forward and we’re aggressive we play great. When we get away from that we’re kind of our own worst enemy. If we can play to our strengths, we know we can play with anybody. We’ve shown it in good chunks of games or entire games this year. We just need to keep reminding ourselves of that and focusing on what we can control and move forward with that.”

French reached a milestone last weekend, surpassing 4,000 Canada West career minutes played – now 4,056 – to move into the top-10 all time.

French is only the 11th player in Canada West history to reach the 4,000 mark and is the first Pronghorn to do so.

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