Wrapping up a three-game homestand Sunday, the Keyano Huskies Men’s Soccer team found a boost of confidence to close out their first quarter of the season in an 8-0 win against the Portage College Voyageurs.
“[There was] a couple of ups and downs that we need to get rid off, but overall very solid performance,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “Not a lot of chances going the opposite way and we could probably score a couple more goals than that eight that we did.”
Powered by a hat trick from Hafid Arellano and a pair of first-career goals in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) play, the Huskies controlled from the outset of the game.
In the eighth minute, Tano Torchia took a cross pass from Arellano and redirected it into the net for the first of his ACAC career and what would turn out to be the eventual game-winning goal.
Over the next 40 minutes, Arellano recorded goals in the ninth, 29th, and 48th minutes for the natural hat trick that swelled the lead to 4-0.
“It’s a nice win to recover confidence in the team,” Arellano said. “We struggled last week, but this week we worked hard and I hope that this is the step up for better games.
“We were trying to associate more plays in the middle. Defensively we were solid today.”
Of the Lima, Peru product, Slotboom emphasized how valuable he was in terms of creating chaos for the opposition and challenging the hard areas of the field.
“If he gets into the game, he’s good at getting into the danger positions and his finishing is one of the best in the league,” Slotboom said. “If we can get him into those spots and find him, he’s going to put them into the back of the net and that’s exactly what we saw today.”
Sitting at 4-0, Mario Morote scored on a low-angle shot to the side of the goalkeeper to put himself on the board in his ACAC career. Rounding out the second half, strikes from Dylan Stewart, William Ly, and Cleisson Anklam marked their first of the new season.
In net, Corbin Cyprien made two saves to record the fifth shutout of his ACAC career.
That boost of getting guys on the goal sheet this early was valuable in its own right according to Slotboom, who hoped to springboard the confidence into the next nine games.
“The players are working hard,” he said. “Seeing them getting rewarded is exactly what you want to see. That’s going to help reaffirm that they’re doing the right thing.
“That’s hopefully going to nail down some of the patterns that we’re looking for and the commitment to those runs. They were all nice goals as well, which helps. I think everybody’s going to take some confidence out of this game and move forward to NAIT next weekend.”
After three games at home, the Huskies will now hit the road for a pair of dates against the NAIT Ooks this weekend. Saturday, the two teams square off at 4:00 p.m. followed by a 2:00 p.m. meeting Sunday.
