A nightmare start for the Keyano Huskies and a dream start for the Olds College Broncos in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men’s Futsal Championship action ended up in the Huskies favour as the only undefeated team in the conference kept their record in tact with a 4-2 win.
“I think we’ve got to be a lot better at dealing with the chances that we get,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “We had some really high-danger scoring chances right at the beginning of the game that we didn’t utilize. We knew that Olds was going to be a team that was going to counterattack and they did exactly that.
“They had a couple of chances and they put both of them away. Then we were kind of in a hole from there on out. We know from our season that we can battle back, but we need to get to a point as a program where we don’t force ourselves to comeback out of a hole.”
That hole was crafted by the Huskies not taking care of the ball. The Broncos were allowed to intercept one pass between Huskies players on the attack less then five minutes into the game with the Broncos’ player rushing in and finding the mesh of the net to the wide side.
Minutes later, another turnover burst the Broncos up court with one player feeding another and beating Jaiden McLaren to double the Broncos’ lead.
Matching that burst of offence was a defence that thwarted chance after chance for the Huskies, who got close but even worked against themselves with near misses at key points. With 1:35 left in the first half the Huskies would get on the board as Cleisson Anklam utilized an indirect free kick to set up Mario Morote for the Huskies’ opening goal.
The half time break did the Huskies good as they came out a changed team ready to atone for the uncharacteristic first half. Leading that charge was William Ly, who struck twice in the span of a minute early to give the Huskies their first lead of the game eight minutes into the second half.
“Just like everybody else, a little bit slow to start the first half,” Slotboom commented of Ly’s performance. “He really pulled it together the second half obviously. He’s a guy that loves the sport, loves playing futsal, and he’s very good at it.
“His skill set really allows him to be a dominant player and that’s what he showed off obviously in the second by getting us back in and getting us ahead.”
The Huskies will now head into Saturday’s Pool A finale against the host Portage College Voyageurs looking to secure their spot in the semifinals with a win. They’ll kick-off at 11:15 a.m. against the Voyageurs.
If the Huskies qualify for the quarter-final path, they’ll play at 3:30pm as well.
