CALGARY – Not too often do the University of Calgary Dinos and the University of Alberta Golden Bears find themselves in an uninspired sporting event, and Saturday's soccer match at the West Varsity Soccer Pitch was certainly no exception as the two teams battled it out to a 2-2 tie.
In an intense game from the opening whistle, the first half was owned by the Dinos, as they attacked offensively, scoring two goals at the 18th and 25th minute mark. Calgary looked to be poised for their first win of the season, and looked to be much hungrier than the Bears early on.
Fernando Di Capua (Calgary, 2nd) found the back of the net with a header in traffic to start the scoring for the Dinos. Soon after, Jeremy Jenkyns (Calgary, 2nd), who scored the lone goal for the Dinos this past weekend in B.C., potted another one off of a rebound in the Alberta zone.
However key substitutions and strategy changes by Alberta coach Len Vickery proved to work in the second half, as the Dinos were hard pressed to answer the Bears after the break.
“We were simply unable to match the competitive direction of the game in the second half,” said Calgary head coach Andrew Gibbs. “They came out in the second half driving long balls into our end, and we couldn't grasp the concept of clearing our zone, and that's what cost us the win today”
While he didn't make the score sheet, second half substitution Ammon Hoefs, a fifth year product of Whitehorse, Yukon, helped provide the energy needed for the Bears, as they came out firing in the second half.
Hoefs and fifth year star John Konye (Edmonton) led the charge for the Bears as they refused to leave the Calgary zone in the second half. Peppering the Dinos with 16 shots in the second half, it was Calgarians Alexander Campos (4th) and Brett Colvin (2nd) who were able to beat Dinos netminder #J.P. Crescenzi#, and salvage a tie for Alberta.
So dominant were the Bears in the 2nd half that their goaltender substitution of Steven Reid (3rd, Calgary) proved futile, as he faced 0 shots from the Dinos in the end.
Gibbs, while frustrated with the second half effort of his team, was happy with the efforts provided by two of his main team leaders
“Lauren Ramos (Calgary, 5th) flat out worked his butt off out there today,” said Gibbs, “I was extremely pleased with that. J.P. played quite well today also, he got beat on two good goals in the corner, but we can't ask a lot more from him.”
Also providing a solid effort was Joe Long of Great Britain, whose advanced skill set leadership skills are fitting in nicely with the Dinos in his first year.
The Dinos welcome the Saskatchewan Huskies, who are coming off of a tie with the Lethbridge Pronghorns earlier Saturday, to their home turf on Sunday. The Bears face those same Pronghorns in Lethbridge to round out their weekend road trip.
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