EDMONTON – Saturday afternoon's Canada West men's soccer tilt between the MacEwan Griffins and Calgary Dinos at Clareview Field had it all.
Spectacular goalkeeping.
Eight yellow cards between both teams.
A coach ejected.
The winning goal on a penalty shot …
Everett Orgnero beat Dinos keeper
Jake Ruschkowski on a penalty in the 45th minute just before half-time and the Griffins hung on for a 2-1 victory in a physical, chippy contest between two Prairie Division rivals bent on vying for a playoff spot.
With shades of a 2-2 draw against Lethbridge in MacEwan's last outing Aug. 25 after blowing a 2-0 lead late in the contest, the Griffins entered half-time with a 2-0 advantage on the Dinos, too. Besides Orgnero's tally, Alexander Mosca opened the scoring eight minutes in, chipping a left-footed rebound off the right post and in from the top of the box.
The Dinos pulled within one in the 50th minute when
Adam Huskic got on a ball at the far post off a scintillating long ball offering by Jared Filo and tapped it past Griffins goalkeeper Simon Dawe – seeing the first action of his Canada West career after starter Seth Johnstone was injured early in the game.
That's as close as the Dinos would get, but the Griffins survived an onslaught in the final few minutes.
The game wouldn't have been in doubt if not for the play of Ruschkowski, particularly in the second half when he dove to rob Marcus Simmons off a 67th minute header and then took away a sure goal from Orgnero in the 69th by parrying a rocket blast over the bar.
"Jake's always had a way of coming up with the big saves in the big moments," said Dinos assistant coach Taylor Evernden, taking post-game duties after head coach
Brendan O'Connell was ejected late in the contest. "For three years, he's kept us in games continuously.
"On the flip side, we have to answer on the top end and put the ball in the net for him as well. It can be tough for Jake always standing on his head. He had a great game today."
The Dinos will try to regroup for a Sunday match at Alberta (2:15 p.m., Foote Field), while MacEwan hosts Mount Royal University (2:30 p.m., Clarke Stadium).
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