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Cougars Beat Hosts in Women's Futsal
01/29/2012...Fort McMurray Alberta - Mount Royal Cougars women’s futsal coach Tino Fusco had one mission entering Friday’s start of Futsal Tournament #1 hosted by the Keyano College Huskies in Fort McMurray.
“We'll be ready for all teams but we really want a rematch with Medicine Hat. Rattlers, we're coming for ya!””
Instead the Cougars kicked off in the gold medal game against the host Huskies winning 5-1.
The interest in meeting the Rattlers was that the Cougars had captured two of the three regular season Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference futsal tournaments last year but lost out in the one that count the most; the provincial championships 1-0 to the Medicine Hat Rattlers.
Despite the fact that the Rattlers were returning 80% of their futsal gold medal team from 2011, including all-stars Jacie Brusky, Caroline Lonsdale and Kirsten Grover, they lost 4-3 to the Huskies in the semi-final.
In the championship game Sunday, staged at the Alberta Building Trades Field inside the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre, Cougars Karlee Hodl opened the scoring on a 3-on-1 break seven minutes into the opening 20-minute half.
Huskies Weigelt scored a minute later 1-1.
Hodl notched her second goal with 5:52 remaining in the first half and the Cougars scored to go up 3-1 with a beautiful tic-tac-toe three-way passing with Danika Cook getting the tally.
Less than a minute into the second half, Lesley Oosterhoof scored making it 4-1 Cougars and Donella Lockhart soon followed with an indirect kick for the final score 5-1.
Cougars had advanced to the final behind 11-0 and 13-1 wins against Olds Broncos and Ambrose Lions respectively plus a 4-4 tie with Keyano.
Keyano had made their way to the gold medal game with a 3-1 win against the Broncos and the already mentioned 4-3 defeat of the Rattlers.
The 4-4 tie Saturday was an excellent game for the two teams that would later meet in the final.
Cougars were coming off of an 11-0 stomping of the Olds Broncos the previous evening in Game 4 of the men’s and women’s 22-game tournament, while for the Huskies it was their opening game.
Huskies played even with the Royals with April Weigelt putting the home team on the scoreboard off a scramble in front of the net 1-0.
A crisp passing Cougars squad made it 2-1 in favour of the visitors before a Rebecca Gerrits goal tied it up 2-2 with 9:05 remaining in the game.
Huskies were over penalties with 11:30 remaining which allowed the Cougars several free penalty kicks the first at 7:45 when Huskies netminder Lauren Bonokoski stopped a Kristin Deeks shot.
Huskies Jamie Hannigan makes it 3-2 for the home team with a direct kick from about 15 yards out with 4:35 remaining in regulation.
Once again Bonokoski comes up big stopping a penalty kick at 2:40 along with four quick sub sequential close-in shots.
Cougars tied it up 3-3 on a three-on-two break with 1:26 remaining. A few seconds later Huskies Weigelt was fouled while going for a header and Hannigan scores on the resulting penalty kick.
Deeks ties the game on a penalty kick 4-4 with 41.3 seconds remaining.
Cougars coach Fusco said the difference between Saturday’s tie and Sunday’s win was a change in tactics.
He continued: “The big difference was that we made some adjustments tactically and seeing the same team the second time hopefully you can learn from the first time and I am very proud of the girls today.”
Cougars captain added: “We were a lot more relaxed and we knew how to go at them this time. We came out with a victory”
The girls played their hearts out,” said Huskies coach Ian Diaz of the home side. “They were also physically tired as they not used to playing four games in two days...but that is no excuse.
”We were sloppy and tired and their counters were more efficient than ours. Experience wise they knew how to play in a tournament situation."
Diaz also had high praise for goalie Lauren Bonokoski “who kept us in the games.”
The bronze medal went to the Rattlers with a 11-0 over the Ambrose University College Lions out of Calgary.
The Lions are competing in their first year in ACAC for futsal. They also compete in basketball and volleyball in the Alberta Colleges Athletic League (ACAL) and are members of the Calgary Adult Hockey League (CAHL) in the sport of hockey
Lions head coach Mike Ellergodt is optimistic about the Lions future in the ACAC: “When we showed up here it was an excitement in how we were going to play at this level. They performed so well but fatigue set in and things went accordingly.”
Tournament #2 for Futsal is scheduled for Feb. 10-12 in Calgary at Mount Royal. ACAC championships March 10-12, 2012 hosted by the Rattlers.
Video of Cougars Goal in Gold Medal Game
