EDMONTON – The University of Calgary Dinos men's soccer team found an early goal before the MacEwan Griffins rallied for their first result of the Canada West season with the equalizer in the 83rd minute to salvage a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
A conference all-rookie a year ago,
Kundai Dziwa got it started for the Dinos with his first goal of the year in the 20th minute. Dziwa took a cross from
Derek Brust, juked a defender and tucked inside the right post past MacEwan goalkeeper Josh Stayko.
Stayko refused to be beaten again, turning in a seven-save performance that included dealing with wind gusts that sent the ball into squirrely mode.
A long bomb off the boot of Calgary's
Gianmarco Plenzik in the 49th minute did just that, catching a gust, which forced MacEwan's keeper to leap backwards and just get a piece of the ball.
MacEwan tied the game in the late when half-time sub Abass (Tobie) Ajibade headed Stefan Gajic's corner kick past Calgary goalkeeper
Jake Ruschkowski for MacEwan's first goal of the campaign.
The third-year veteran Ajibade was able to carve out a spot for himself in the middle of the box, anchoring strong against a very physical Dinos squad, and found glory.
Calgary outshot MacEwan 18-9 (8-4 on goal), but settled for the draw.
The Dinos return to Calgary next weekend and will face the Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 3 at the MRU campus.