Kodiaks ready for futsal playoffs

By Lethbridge Herald on February 20, 2023.

Lethbridge College Kodiaks futsal goalie recruit Krista Van Dieman attempts a save during pratice last week. Herald photo by Justin Seward

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

After months of preparation, the Lethbridge College Kodiaks futsal teams begin their playoff journey with their first game of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference regional tournament at home against Medicine Hat College tonight.

The Kodiaks will play Medicine Hat College, Prairie, SAIT, Olds College and Ambrose University.

LC will have to win three of the five games to book their spot at the championships.

“So, yeah, from the South we should be right there,” said Kodiaks futsal head coach Sean Carey.

“The guys side is very wide open. Like I think a lot of the teams are going to be very … even.”

Carey said they’ve just got to come out ready.

“We’ve got to come out firing on Tuesday and take care of those two games because it sets you up for the weekend then,” said Carey.

Carey thinks consistency will be key for each team to see success.

“They need to be on their game,” said Carey.

“They need to be able to … you know not give away stupid goals because futsal is like a momentum sport. So if a team scores one on you, if you’re not ready, they’ll score two or three before you realize and you’ve conceded three goals. The girls did it on a team when we’re at the Olds tournament. We were down 1-0 against Grande Prairie and within a minute-and-a-half we were up 4-1. We scored four goals in like 90 seconds. So it can happen. We’ve just got to takeaway mistakes and just not give the ball away cheaply, and then when the opportunities come, we’ve just got to take them.”

LC men’s futsal player Daniel Okpala thinks the team has been doing good so far in preparing for the tournament.

“We’ve had a few exhibition games with Medicine Hat and then two weekends ago, we were in Olds where we played a few teams as well,” said Okpala.

“It’s just nice to play different teams, and kind of learn different playing styles and kind of see what they have. And then that way we can come back to the drawing board and get better and see how we can improve against other teams.”

Okpala added, “We have the skill to get past this stage and possibly win the championship. We just have to keep working hard and give it our all.”

“We’ve been working really hard as a team altogether and we have a really good bunch … of girls and I think we’re going to move pretty good forward and probably win championships, hopefully,” said girls team player Jayna Timinski.

Timinski thinks if the girls work together as a team, talk and communicate, the club will find success.

The women’s game will be at 5 p.m. followed by the men’s game at 7 p.m. tonight at Lethbridge College.

The tournament will continue from Feb. 24-26 at Medicine Hat College.

The top three in each of the men’s and women’s tables will advance to the championships in Fort McMurray from March 10-12.