Thunder spoil Huskies' home opener with late winner
The Keyano Huskies men's soccer team put forth a strong effort for the majority of Saturday's return to Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) regular season action that would normally warrant three points.
They controlled possession, limited chances, and drove play to create several close opportunities.
However, it wasn't meant to be in their home opener as the Concordia Thunder came away with a 1-0 win after a late goal from Luke Drapala broke the deadlock with the only goal of the game.
"I'd say that we had most of the chances, we had most of the ball, and I think we were definitely the better team today so we were unlucky to not get something more out of it," said Huskies head coach Niels Slotboom. "That's the game, that's the way it goes; the best team doesn't always win or the team that's best in that moment doesn't always win."
With the support of as raucous a crowd as they could get on the socially-distanced bleachers, the men's soccer Huskies started out with a chance here and a chance there, which would go just to the side of the net or over the bar.
Still the Huskies remained determined to strike for the opening goal. One player in particular who was pushing that attack was Caleb Kehler, who used his spot on the wing to foster the creation of these chances or getting them himself.
"I thought we played really well as a team today," said Kehler. "The result was unlucky, we did not deserve to lose that game. We had the majority of possession, the chances; we just couldn't finish the chances we got.
"We just broke down at the end."
Each time the Huskies were repelled, the Thunder mounted an effort the other way, trying to generate offence of their own.
They found it in the 87th minute as a Keyano defender went to play the ball of the hop to the right of goalkeeper Pedja Jovicic and was challenged by Drapala for possession. Winning control of the ball, a Drapala put a chip shot over Jovicic for the late back-breaking goal.
Even with the late deficit, the Huskies made use of the time remaining to press for the equalizer, but couldn't find the right situation to put the ball past the goalkeeper.
"We need to do better at finishing," added Kehler. "We haven't worked on it, but it just comes naturally.
"A lot of our chances, we need to be burying because you're only going to get three to four chances a game."
The defeat provided a bit of a catch-22 for Slotboom, who mused that the errors were within their control, which was a blessing and a curse for future matches.
"That's where you've got to have some character and some leadership," said Slotboom. "You've got to make sure you push through. I think the guys they know that they need to do the simple things better and that's as simply as it gets.
"It's all things that we can control, which is nice but also frustrating in the same part."
The Huskies return to the pitch Sunday at 2:00 p.m. when they play host to The King's University Eagles (0-1-0) at Shell Place.