Kodiaks soccer put best effort forward against SAIT

By Lethbridge Herald on October 10, 2022.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks soccer teams put forth a valiant effort against the top- seeded SAIT Trojans clubs on Saturday at home, however, both games resulted in shut out losses.

The women’s Kodiaks and SAIT battled all over the field trying to find holes to make  plays in, but a 79th minute corner kick resulted in a header from the Trojans’ Grayce Herrera finding the back of the net to give the visitors a 1-0 win.

“I think we worked really well as a team and throughout the whole thing we pushed through, and we worked together and we really never got down on ourselves,” Jordan Quinn, Kodiaks goal keeper.

Quinn thought the battle in the box with SAIT was aggressive.

“I knew I had to be aggressive and I think you know a goal can change a game,” said Quinn.

“So it was important to make those crucial saves, I think.”

Quinn said it  was as a perfect header in from SAIT.

“It was right  in the corner and it was well deserved for them,” said Quinn.

Kodiaks assistant coach, Nikki Furukawa, thought it was one of their best games all season.

“I would say the girls brought a great energy to the field,” said Furukawa.

“We were playing our game for sure. It’s tough when it’s on a set play. We unfortunately (didn’t) finish our chances. But I think it’s only up from here for the girls.”

The women rebounded on Sunday with a 5-2 win on the road at Olds College.

Olds would get on the board first at the 9:07 mark of the first half as Kassidy Kelly found the back of the net before the Kodiaks’ Montanna Rousselle replied a short time later to tie the game.

LC scored four straight goals after that as  Ashley Sazalski scored back-to-back goals before Kenley Matishak made it 4-1 for the visitors before the half.

Sazalski made it 5-1 Kodiaks at the 52nd minute before Kelly added one more for Olds.

LC women’s soccer record is now at 6-3-1.

The men’s game against SAIT was as barn-burning as the women’s as they were shut out 4-0.

“We tried a new formation,” said Vincent Dyck, a Kodiak who hails from Lethbridge.

“I thought it worked quite well and it was a learning process for all of us. You know, we’re still improving as a team here, and we’ll try our best and we’ll move on from it.”

Dyck thought LC moved the ball when they had possession.

“At times, we were a bit panicky but again they’re a good team,” said Dyck.

“But we moved the ball well, we communicated, we worked hard and didn’t quite get what we hoped for.”

“I think we tried to match them and play a formation that would be suitable for our team to counter them,” said men’s assistant coach Joel Arrieus.

“Sadly, a couple mistakes cost us a couple of goals and the momentum shifted a bit. But I’m confident that if we are  a little bit more discipline on the ball, we can still do what we set out to do in playoffs.”

The formation used was a defensive 5-4-1 style where their five players at the back, four in the middle and one up top.

“As we tighten up our screws there with that formation, I do believe we have a shot at upsetting 100 per cent,” he said.

The men lost 5-0 in Olds on Sunday.