The Keyano Huskies Men’s Futsal team found themselves on the wrong side of two close results this past weekend in Lac La Biche, Alta.

Their Saturday results saw them drop a 1-0 decision to the Lakeland College Rustlers before a 5-3 loss at the hands of the host Portage College Voyageurs.

“We were in both games, but we had a lot of mistakes that were not really characteristic of our players,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “We didn’t necessarily follow the game plans the way that we are capable of doing in a normal game.”

The opening game against the Rustlers pushed both teams to their limits with the chances traded. Though the Rustlers would pull ahead with the only goal of the match, the Huskies kept their opponents on their toes with several close calls that nearly evened up the score.  

“The guys need to remember the intensity that they’ve seen now,” continued Slotboom. “For many of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever played futsal, especially at the ACAC level so it was a learning curve there no matter what.

“Now that they’re exposed to that, there’s no excuses for the second weekend.”

In a physical battle against the Voyageurs, the Huskies trailed 3-1 at the half with Caleb Kehler notching the team’s lone goal. Jordan Khalilifar and Kehler’s second of the game would feature in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as the Voyageurs remained in front.

“It was disappointing to not come out this weekend with any points,” Khalilifar said. “Obviously, there are different factors that may have played a part, such as, this was our first time dealing with other teams and other competition besides ourselves in practice.

“That shouldn’t have been an excuse because we had a plan, we had tactics and unfortunately, we just didn’t deliver.”

The physical play was a sticking point with the Huskies from the game against the Voyageurs, with Slotboom expressing his thoughts against it.

“We would be ready for it if it was actually part of the futsal game,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re coming away with one pretty bad injury that I feel was building up if it was managed a little bit better.

“I like focusing on the things we can actually control; officiating is not one of them. We’ve got to look at ourselves and we know that we didn’t do enough to win either way.”

Even in defeat, Slotboom was hopeful at what he had seen from his side in the second game.

“They showed some compete; they showed some real heart to try and push,” he continued. “Overall, disappointed because we had more in us to get a better result.

“At this point, it is what it is.”

At 0-2, the Huskies will now face an arduous challenge in trying to qualify for the 2022 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s Men’s Futsal Championship.

They’ll need to win both games at the next matchday on Saturday, February 19, 2022 and get some help along the way.

The Huskies will take on the Voyageurs at 11:15 a.m. that matchday and tackle the Rustlers again at 2:15 p.m.