Pronghorns men come home with a draw

Even with two tough opponents on the slate and a slightly-cranky Mother Nature to deal with, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s soccer team didn’t come home empty-handed.

The Pronghorns and the MacEwan Griffins settled for a 11 tie as the two teams squared off in chilly conditions in Edmonton in Canada West play Sunday afternoon.

Kyle Angerilli put two shots on goal for the Horns and found the back of the net with one of them to send improve Lethbridge to 08-2 and send them home with one point following a 3-0 loss to the Prairie Division-leading Alberta Golden Bears Saturday afternoon.

With the, the Pronghorns remain the Prairie Division basement, three wins behind the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the Griffins and the Mount Royal Cougars.

On Sunday, the Griffins took a 1-0 lead at the 16-minute mark, but that lead only lasted a little over 10 minutes before the Pronghorns replied.

“I thought we played a fantastic first half,” said Pronghorns head coach Randy Bardock.

“Their goal came on kind of a lucky bounce to set the guy up.”

After a few chances following the Griffins goal, Angerilli came through with his first of the year.

“We had everybody involved in the attack and their goalie made a couple really nice saves,” said Bardock. “We hit the crossbar and then Kyle scored off a great buildup.” That set up a scoreless second half in which the Pronghorns had to deal with the elements. “The second half was bit more scattered,” said Bardock. “The wind picked up, so they were playing a lot of long balls. But we defended well and defended smart and came away with a point, which on the road is always great.” Faith Marufu also had two shots on goal for the Pronghorns. Jaden Veluw, Stephen Primeau and David Velazquez had one shot each.

Pronghorns goaltender Nolan French made eight saves.

On Saturday against the Golden Bears, Alberta scored a little over three minutes into the game.

“They got an early goal, and not a good goal,” said Bardock. “So that kind of set a hole early, which you don’t want to do against a team like that. I thought there were some things we did well in that game. When you play against a team like that, when you make a mistake you get punished. That’s what they took advantage of when they got an opportunity.”