Second place locked down for Kodiaks
They did it with a high-scoring draw, but the Lethbridge College Kodiaks men’s soccer team is headed to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championship in Calgary as the second seed in the South.
The Kodiaks battled the Lakeland Rustlers to a 3-3 tie Sunday afternoon at the Servus Sports Centre to wrap up the regular season at 7-3-2 to clinch second in the ACAC South Division in a tie-breaker over the Red Deer Kings.
The Kings, who the Kodiaks defeated 3-1 Saturday, also finished 7-3-2 following their 2-0 win over the Medicine Hat Rattlers Sunday in Medicine Hat, but the Kodiaks earn second place on a tie-breaker decided by head-to-head goals-for and against.
The Kodiaks lost 3-2 in Red Deer last month before Saturday’s key 3-1 home win.
On the women’s side, the Kodiaks — who had third place in the South clinched heading into the weekend — blanked Lakeland 1-0 to finish the regular season at 6-4-2.
Sunday’s tie was enough to lock up second for the men’s team, but Kodiaks head coach Sean Carey said it wasn’t his team’s best outing.
“We didn’t play well today,” he said. “The boys played well against Red Deer and for the most part today we were very sloppy. We couldn’t keep possession, we were quite happy just to get rid of the ball. We weren’t wanting to ball today and I don’t know why. Lakeland is one of those teams where if you do that, they’ll punish you. They’ve got some good guys that know how to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Wilson Ntignee and Jimmy Bukuru gave the Kodiaks a 2-0 lead by the 35th minute before the Rustlers answered back with three straight goals in the span of 14 minutes for a 3-2 lead.
Ntignee scored on a penalty kick in the 70th minute to ensure the tie.
“We were up 2-0 and we weren’t playing well even when we were up, we were lucky to be there,” said Carey. “We gave away some sloppy goals on our end. But when we got down 3-2 we managed another penalty kick (goal). Then the boys played well for about 15 or 20 minutes and we should have put the game away, but I think it was one of those ‘We know we’re in’ kind of games.”
Carey said his team was dejected after Sunday’s performance, but felt that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially with provincials right around the corner.
“They’ve set themselves such a high standard,” he said. “They know that when they don’t play well they know they’re better and I think that’s a good thing for them moving into next week. Even though a five-game win streak would have been nice to have.” The Kodiaks home turf didn’t help, either. “That field doesn’t help at all. It’s a hard, bumpy field,” said Carey. “We like to play the ball on the ground and it’s tough when the ball is bouncing all over the place. Maybe on the turf Friday the boys will be able to play the ball on the ground.”
Each side had five shots on goal in Sunday’s tie. Kodiaks goaltender Kohl Wandyka had two saves.
The Kodiaks women capped off their weekend at 1-0-1 following a scoreless draw with Red Deer Saturday.
Kayla Kehoe scored the lone Lethbridge goal Sunday in the 44th minute.
“The girls played OK today,” said Carey. “We rotated the girls through quite a bit. It wasn’t a meaningless game, but it wasn’t changing in the standings. The girls played well for the most part, they controlled the play. We had chances, but Lakeland has come on as the season has gone on and they’re not an easy out. They made it tough on the girls.”
The second season now starts this weekend as the Kodiaks head to provincials in Calgary with the SAIT Trojans hosting this year’s tournament.
Both Kodiaks teams will play the Kings University Eagles to start Friday in the quarterfinals.
The women play the first game at 9:30 a.m. and the men play at 4 p.m.
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