Against one of the most decorated programs in Canada West, the Keyano Huskies Men’s Soccer team got an early wake-up call to begin their preseason schedule.
An 11-1 result at the hands of the University of Alberta Golden Bears showed the Huskies that they’re capable of playing at a higher level and that there’s still plenty of runway left in their season.
“[It’s] disappointing, but I think it’s what we need,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “They’re a good team and they punished us for our mistakes. We made tons of those, so hopefully we got them out of our system today.
“We want to compete against a better team that’s going to punish us for those so we understand how important the detail is of what we’re trying to do.”
A seven-goal first half for the Golden Bears, featuring a single strike from James Bartha in response, set the tone early on. The Golden Bears would add four more goals in the second half to round out the scoring with the Huskies goalkeepers swapped.
In that halftime adjustment, Slotboom saw some more consistent play, but also traits that sank the team on this day.
“The individual mistakes and uncharacteristic play; that’s going to kill us,” Slotboom said. “That’s a hard thing to overcome. It’s a challenge, but it’s a right time to have one of those so it’s all about how the guys respond.
“We’ll work on that and next week the game will look different.”
Slotboom experimented with his lineup through the game, inserting a number of the team’s 2023 recruitment class into the lineup to get their first taste of action.
That will lead into another week of practice before they take on their next challenge, and first ACAC opponent in the Lakeland Rustlers next Wednesday in Cold Lake.
Slotboom was eager for the team to learn from their mistakes and get back to the better play he knows they’re capable of.
“If we play like this it’s not going to be much of a difference,” Slotboom said. “We have way too much quality to go like this. I’m hoping this is one of those where you get it out of your system and we move on from it.
“We’ll use this week to review this, and get back onto the page, and make sure that it looks better.”
The Huskies and Rustlers are scheduled to kick-off in Cold Lake on Wednesday, August 23 at 3:00 p.m.
