Men's soccer fight off underdog Coyotes

By Daniel Nugent-Bowman

nuge0020@algonquincollege.com

It was soccer’s version of Babe Ruth calling his own shot.

And just like the Sultan of Swat pointing to the centerfield bleachers before hitting a home run to that very spot, Will Beauge followed up on his bold promise.

Having already scored one goal in the match, the brash Algonquin striker got into a heated confrontation with La Cité keeper Eric Poulin during a goalmouth scramble. After the two exchanged verbal jousts, Beauge casually walked away, turned to Poulin and said, “I’m going to get three.”

Beauge then potted another two goals within 15 minutes to ice the match in what would eventually be a 5-0 win for the home side.

“The two of them were just rebounds,” said Beague humbly, “so I have to thank my players for that. I’m just there to put in the garage.”

Garage would have been a kinder word than striker Bruno Mota used to sum up the Thunder’s play before Beauge helped break the game open.

Even though the Thunder held a 1-0 lead after 45 minutes, they only had a slight edge in scoring chances against a much weaker but hungrier opponent.

Instead of trying to control the ball and pass it out to the wings to spread out the Coyotes defence, Algonquin looked for long passes that resulted loss of possession including many offside calls.

“I think the midfielders were more into the game [in the second half],” said Mota, who added the final two Thunder tallies. “Before, we were giving too many long balls when we should have been looking for the strikers.”

These changes paced the Algonquin attack to a sure victory.

“We started off slow and we had to make some adjustments at half,” said Algonquin coach Mike Caruso. “Our veterans picked up their games and led us.

“This was [La Cité’s] World Cup. They live to play us. The guys knew that today was their final basically.”

La Cité coach Jean Pamphile felt his players relished their underdog status.

“Every time you play the top team, especially when you’re at the bottom, you’re pumped because you’ve got nothing to lose,” he said. “The important thing from our side is the guys played the game that they were coached. In the first half we did that very well.

“I think for these guys any step is a step in the right direction. In this game, I think the way we moved the ball was much better. Anytime we play Algonquin it’s a chance to learn from [them]. Whenever we come and play our cross town rivals, it’s only an opportunity to get better.”