Men's Soccer Huskies hopeful in defeat as ACAC Championship run ends
There’s disappointment in defeat, but also hope in the future for the Keyano Huskies Men’s Soccer team.
Their reign as ACAC Men’s Soccer Champions came to an end Sunday night in Grande Prairie at the hands of the NAIT Ooks in added extra time with a 2-0 result. Also ending was a 595-day reign of ACAC Men's Soccer/Futsal that featured a pair of Futsal titles and the 2023 outdoor championship.
It was another classic match between the two sides, the fourth time the divisional rivals had met in the ACAC Championship game after previous battles in 2023, 2017, and 2014. Now, each side has won a pair of those games.
“When you don’t win it all, there’s some disappointment,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “We played some very good games. We can make peace with the fact that we left everything out on the field. A good game against Lethbridge, very good against Red Deer. I thought they were a very high-level team.”
The weekend started with a 1-0 win against the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks Friday, sending the Huskies into the semi-finals. Against the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings, the Huskies gave up the opening goal in the fifth minute but responded in the 27th and 42nd minutes to go ahead for good in a 2-1 win.
Rematching against the Ooks in the Championship final, both sides traded near chances through a scoreless 90 minutes before the Ooks broke through in the 92nd and 106th minutes for the win.
A hard lesson to learn but also an important one, especially for the team’s nine rookies. While the Huskies are still in great hands with their veteran core, the loss can serve as an opportunity for growth.
“That’s where the culture as a whole is stepping up and shining through,” Slotboom said. “The other guys that have been through it on the positive and negative sides from the last few years, they’re keeping the new guys accountable and showing them the way of battling through these types of things.
“It’s showing already. The guys are disappointed, but not defeated and they’re now motivated to get going in futsal.”
And it’s probably a good bet the futsal matches between the two will only intensify in anticipation of next season’s outdoor battles.
“It’s fun,” Slotboom continued of the rivalry. “It just shows that there’s two very solid programs in the ACAC right now that are neck-and-neck. It’s a fun rivalry. When we play, it’s hard and there’s definitely some battles. There’s a mutual respect between the players and coaches, Jeff [Paulus] and I, get along really well and exchange ideas about the game itself.
“It’s a rivalry, but it’s very different. It’s one that continues to push both programs to the next level.”
Midfielder Aaron Ernst and defender Mykyta Kudrin were both named to the Tournament All-Star team for their efforts over the weekend.