Mota clinches Algonquin win

By Daniel Nugent-Bowman

nuge0020@algonquincollege.com

As lightning was striking nearby off the pitch, the Thunder were roaring on it, rolling to a 3-0 win in men’s soccer against the Seneca Sting.

Towards the end of the match, lightning surrounded the sky causing many fans to leave the stands early and miss a great finishing charge by the Thunder.

Striker Bruno Mota helped put the finishing touches on another Algonquin win with goals in the 73rd and 88th minutes. His first goal came on a breakaway, and the second off a well-placed header.

Mota was just one of the keys to a ferocious Thunder attack, that included a goal in the 22nd minute by defender Stephane LeMay off a textbook header from a corner kick.

While the offense was great, coach Mike Caruso gave postgame credit to the defensive side of the ball. 

“Defensively we played really well,” he said. “Hats off to all our defenders. It starts at the front. Our two strikers defended well and we defended well as a team.”

Algonquin played at an advantage for most of the second half. In the 47th minute Seneca keeper Franco Barbieri pulled down Mota just outside the box resulting in a red card, forcing the Sting to play a man down. Silvano Posca came off the bench to replace Barbieri admirably.

“That’s the smart thing for the goalie to do from his standpoint otherwise it would have been a goal,” said Mota. “I was kind of expecting that.”

The call drew no objection from Seneca coach Vito Colangelo who said the call was a “professional red card.”

Ironically enough, the red card was one of the most civil plays on the pitch. Throughout the match there were constant hard tackles and a lot of pushing, shoving and cursing during the course of play.

 “That’s always the way it is when we play them,” said Colangelo. “We’ve built a rivalry with them over the years so it’s the same every time we see them.”

Caruso believed the feeling is mutual.

“We knew what to expect,” he said. “They’re going to come in late. They’re going to be chippy. They chirp a lot. Both teams left it on the field. We love playing Seneca.”

LeMay is used to games like this.

“I’ve seen a lot of competitive teams being pushy,” he said. “Teams are going to be revved up to play us. Every team wants to beat us. If we come out like we did today, we’ll win.”

The Thunder got the win without All-Canadian Loui Legakis, who was out with an undisclosed injury from the previous game against the Durham Lords.