Thunder on top of Ontario

By Daniel Nugent-Bowman

nuge0020@algonquincollege.com

 

The men’s soccer team will know this Saturday whether they will upgrade their provincial championship to a national one.

After winning the provincial crown Oct. 28, the Thunder are in Kamloops, B.C. for the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association finals vying for double gold. They faced off against the host Thompson Rivers University late last night, and will play Concordia University College tomorrow with the first place team of the three receiving a birth in Saturday’s championship match.

Algonquin made it to Kamloops by crushing the Sheridan Bruins 6-0 to win the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship on Oct. 28. The match had to be played in Peterborough, Ont. after heavy showers washed away take one of the finals on Oct. 25. Sheridan couldn’t make some players available for a potential game the following day so the match had to be played during the week in a neutral site.

Captain Loui Legakis paced the team to victory in Peterborough. He showed tremendous leadership, scoring his second of the match on a direct free kick just minutes after getting kneed in face – receiving a gash beside his left eye to boot.

“I just wanted to jump start my team somehow,” said Legakis after the provincial win. “I was only gone for two minutes. I wasn’t going to miss this game.”

Algonquin displayed their second nationally ranked team skills throughout the match. They dominated from start to finish, barely giving Sheridan a whiff of an opportunity. After Legakis potted his first goal in the 18th minute, the Bruins were never in the game.

“We played a stinker on Friday night against St. Clair,” said Thunder coach Mike Caruso. “It’s not hard to motivate these guys. They know where they want to be and that’s the national championship.”

Edgar Soglo and Brendan Walker each scored a goal while Will Beauge added a pair to round out the scoring for the Thunder.

“We have to keep scoring,” said Beauge about the Algonquin’s mindset going forward. “We need to keep a positive mind and treat every game as a national final.”

Despite the tough loss, Sheridan coach Tony Silvestri was able to hold his head high and direct praise toward his inexperienced squad.

“We’ve come a long way with a young team this year,” he said. “We only had four returning players from last year. It was quite an accomplishment to finish first in our division and get to where we are. Algonquin is an established team and it’s hard to knock them off the podium.”

“There’s a definite positive,” said Caruso. “We’re not getting ahead [of ourselves]. Our ultimate goal is to be in the national championship gold medal game.”

To get to the provincial final, the Thunder had to rebound from a sluggish semi-final game in which Legakis was once again the catalyst.

With the score tied 1-1 in the 74th minute, the midfielder had a chance to give his team the lead against the underdog St. Clair Saints. Legakis caught up to the long pass and, while sliding, managed to hook the ball around Saints keeper Sean Murphy. The shot inched over the line ever so slowly, in what seemed like an eternity to Legakis.

“It took forever,” said a relieved Legakis. “I’m just so happy it went it.”

The goal proved to be the winner as the Thunder held on for the 2-1 win, managing to fend off a couple of tough scoring opportunities from the visitors at the end of the match.

“We made plenty of mental errors,” said Legakis. “All the credit goes to St. Clair. They gave us the toughest battle we’ve had all year. This was a big wake up call. We need to come out better for the finals.”

The Saints scored the first goal when striker Hussein Elnimari headed home a rebound in the box in the game’s 26th minute. The goal marked only the second time the Thunder had trailed in a match all season and came as an eye opener to everyone at the Algonquin Soccer Facility.

“We hated it,” said Algonquin head coach Mike Caruso of allowing the goal, “but it was deserved. “St. Clair came in with a game plan, and played to counter attack and got that first goal.”

Veteran Algonquin keeper Tristan Roscoe didn’t like giving up the first goal but thought his team still had a great chance to win.

“You always kind of get that feeling when you’re down,” he said. “But we controlled the play. We had three or four chances. Their goalie played really well in the first half.”

St. Clair head coach Mike Baraslievski was excited to see his team with the early advantage, but he was wary about getting too far ahead of himself.

“We were very happy about it but there was a lot of time to play still,” he said. “There was no special strategy when we took the lead. We tried to stick to the plan and hoped to get a second one.”

The plan certainly wasn’t to allow Algonquin to tie the score just 11 minutes later. But that’s what happened when recently named OCCA Player of the Year Will Beauge riffled a shot past Murphy and into the net.

Caruso liked the resolve in his squad and knew that his team would make it to the finals.

“We’re very confident,” he said. “There are lots of guys who have won championships and gold medals. There was no doubt in my mind that we we’re going to win.”

The Kamloops tournament will mark the fifth straight national finals for Algonquin. Last year they lost in the finals in Halifax to Champlain Regional College-St. Lambert. In 2006, the college won its first national gold since 2002.