Rustlers Men's Soccer | Weekend Recap - September 15, 2019

The Rustlers men's soccer team returned to Edmonton this past weekend to take on the NAIT Ooks. The Rustlers would come up short against the defending Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC) champions in a 4-1 loss.

The Rustlers would come out strong and be rewarded with an early goal from first-year Giordano Ciccacci in the opening 11 minutes. This lead would not last long for the Rustlers as the Ooks answered back with a goal of their own 7 minutes later. At the half, the Rustlers would trail by a single goal, 1-2.

The second half would open up when the Rustlers missed out on 2 through balls that resulted in no goals on their behalf. The Ooks would counter-attack and sneak two more past Rustlers' goalkeeper, Zach Wagner, in the 62nd and 78th minutes to finish off the game on top with a score of 4-1.

First-year Eamonn Sych expressed his disappointment in the loss but also noted that the Rustlers "had a very good character-building day as a team," and the men "competed and gave them a tough game." The Rustlers are hoping to use this loss as a learning lesson, in the words of Sych: "we are going to take the improvements from this game to our next and (hopefully) get a good result when we play Portage College at home next Saturday."

Head coach Kevin Wagner said the players "showed potential and promising while battling against the perennial powerhouse of ACAC soccer." He was impressed as his players "competed well and didn't pick up any misconduct cards within the game." The Rustlers will "regroup positively with the future as all 17 players got meaningful minutes in the game today."

Giordano Ciccacci's efforts and lone goal for the Rustlers would be recognized with the player of the game honours. The Rustlers will be back in action at home at VLA field on Saturday, September 21 at 2 pm.