2019 CCAA Men's Soccer Nationals Recap
In this the 37th Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men's Soccer Championships, the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) representatives looking for a gold strike were the Red Deer College Kings and Lethbridge College Kodiaks.
ACAC has found the magic touch four times prior with the NAIT Ooks in 1987 and 2011 and the Mount Royal Cougars way back in 1994 and 1997.
Last time the ACAC medaled at the finals was 2016 with the Keyano Huskies claiming silver.
This year the ACAC failed to make the medal rounds.
Below are game recaps from the CCAA championship website along with ACAC interview quotes from the respective coaches.
The host of the event held in Oshawa, Ontario was Durham College.
Quarter Final November 6, 2019
Lethbridge Kodiaks 1 VIU Mariners 2
VIU scored late on to get a 2-1 win against the Lethbridge Kodiaks to book a place in the CCAA Men's Soccer Championship final four.
VIU had the stronger first half, outshooting the Kodiaks 3-1 at the break. The Mariners got the go-ahead goal in the 49th minute when Diego Corlazzoli lobbed a header over Kodiaks keeper Cody Ferguson into the top left corner. The Kodiaks tied the game up late when All-Canadian, Ben Knight, swung a ball into the box which Owen Beers finished in the 83rd minute. VIU would not be denied though as they replied with the eventual game-winning goal just four minutes later when Billy Bagiopoulos' long-range strike found the back of the net.
Corlazzoli picked up the 4imprint Player of the Game award for VIU, while Brayden Jetten got the award for Lethbridge.
"I felt we were very shaky at the start and the boys were a bit nervous," said Kodiaks head coach Sean Carey. "As we went deeper into the game, we got into our stride but we gave up a bad goal at the end which was uncharacteristic for us as we had one of the better defences all year in the ACAC."
Red Deer Kings 2 Holland Hurricanes 1 PK Away
The Red Deer Kings upset the Holland Hurricanes in a penalty shootout to reach the CCAA Men's Soccer Championship semi-final.
Holland opened the scoring in the 16th minute when All-Canadian Alex Lourenso buried a shot in the bottom left corner. The Kings got their equalizer in the 56th minute when Pedro Neto's shot rifled off the underside of the crossbar and Nathan Swartz followed up with the rebound. Despite some late pressure from Holland, the game headed to penalties.
From there, the Kings were perfect in the shootout winning 5-4 to reach the final four.
Pedro Neto was honoured as the 4imprint Player of the Game for Red Deer, while Kaito Yamamoto received the award for Holland.
"It was a good win and probably the only game all week in which we had our normal starting roster...at least for 10 minutes," said Kings head coach Wade Groenewegen van der Weiden. "This was the only game where we mostly played like ourselves."
Bronze Quarter-Final November 7, 2019
Ch. Saint-Lambert Cavaliers 3 Lethbridge Kodiaks 0
The Champlain Cavaliers are still in the hunt for a bronze medal after their 3-0 win over the Lethbridge Kodiaks on Thursday morning.
The opening goal of the game came in the seventh minute when Zakaria Bahous slid through the Lethbridge defence and found the bottom left corner. Just five minutes later the Cavaliers made it 2-0, when there was a scramble in the box from a corner and midfielder Hugo Dufresne, poked home from close range.
Tempers were flaring in the second half and Ben Knight of Lethbridge was shown a straight red card in the 54th minute. Champlain had a few more chances and even had the ball in the back of the net on two occasions, but both were called offside. Eventually, Arnaud Toupin was through on goal for the Cavaliers and calmly found the bottom left corner to make it 3-0 and put Champlain into the next round.
The 4imprint Players of the Game were Jeremy Tremblay from Champlain and Chris Anton from Lethbridge.
"Our guys were overmatched in this game for sure, they took it to our guys pretty handily and the score was a reflection on the game."
A game that had been moved to a local indoor facility due to weather conditions.
Semi-Final November 7, 2019
Durham Lords 2 Red Deer Kings 0
The host Durham Lords punched their ticket to the CCAA Championship Final after a convincing 2-0 win against the Red Deer Kings.
Durham's Joshua Lee nearly opened the scoring following a run up the middle of the field, but his effort rung off the post. Durham continued to press and opened the scoring when Jose Flores saw his free-kick slip through Red Deer's goalkeeper Jacob Hamilton's hands to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
Shortly into the second half, the Lords got their insurance goal when Lee secured the ball at the top of the box before curling a shot into the top right corner. The host Lords then stood firm on the backline as Red Deer looked to find their way back into the match. Durham prevailed with the 2-0 win.
Tyreik Bryan was selected as the 4imprint Player of the Game for Durham, while Turner Johnson received the award for Red Deer.
"Unfortunately things got rough for us as we lost our centre back in the game and tried to make adjustments. We gave them a gift of a goal and we played solid against them.I thought we were better in the second half but they scored a cracker of a goal."
Bronze Semi-Final November 8, 2019
Ch. Saint-Lambert Cavaliers 3 Red Deer Kings 0
The Champlain Saint-Lambert Cavaliers booked their place in the bronze medal game after a convincing 3-0 win over the Red Deer Kings.
The Cavaliers took the lead in the 28th minute when 2019 CCAA Player of the Year Jared Leheta notched his first goal of the tournament, tapping the ball home after a scramble in front of the Red Deer net. Leheta nearly got his second goal of the game in the 36th minute when he almost converted what could have been the goal of the season, but his bicycle kick went just inches wide of the bottom right corner.
Champlain started the second half off with a bang, scoring two goals in quick succession courtesy of Zakaria Bahous and Jeremy Tremblay.
Leheta picked up the 4imprint Player of the Game for Champlain, while Cale Jacobs received the award for Red Deer.
"Things really came undone in this game. We lost our starting goalie Jacob Hamilton (5'9" Goalkeeper 3rd Bachelor of Kinesiology Lacombe, Alberta) and we had to put ourselves together as a band-aid group. There was a two minute period in the second half where they scored two goals on us. I had to put in Rhys Groenewegen (5'10" Goalkeeper 1st Justice Studies Red Deer, Alberta) in goal and he controlled the ball well from the back."
Rhys also happens to be Wade's son.
7th/8th Placement Match November 9, 2019
Holland Hurricanes 3 Lethbridge Kodiaks 0
"The first half we weren't there again. Like any other team at this stage of the season, we were battling a lot of injuries having to play 15 games in eight weeks to get here. You don't have much time to recover from injuries. We got some young guys -.the future of our program - .into the game which is positive. In the big picture, we left everything out there in the second half."
5th/6th Placement Match November 9, 2019
Humber Hawks 5 Red Deer Kings 0
"Unfortunately by that time we were struggling to finish the game. Before the end of the game, we brought our other keeper in, Austin Langdon (6'8" Goalkeeper 2nd Bachelor of Education Secondary Calgary, Alberta) and now we had Rhys out running as we did not have any players left on the bench. We were plagued by injuries all week. We came with 22 players of which 20 were healthy and we finished with 11 running bodies. We had to make adjustments every game."
Footnotes: Lethbridge coach Sean Carey was named CCAA Men's Soccer Coach of the Year.
Ch. Saint-Lambert Cavaliers won bronze 1-0 over Douglas Royals.
Host Durham Lords defeated VIU Mariners 3-2 for gold.