Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
VANCOUVER – Injuries off hard fouls derailed MacEwan's valiant attempt to get a result against the No. 3 team in the U SPORTS men's soccer ranks on Saturday night.
Two Griffins players were taken to the hospital, while three others had to leave the contest with injuries, leading to the wheels falling off late for MacEwan in a 3-1 loss to UBC.
"It was a little unorthodox," said Griffins head coach Adam Loga. "Obviously, we came out and started well. It was a toe-to-toe game, evenly matched. And then Marcus (Kapri Simmons) was fouled heavily. He had to go the hospital in an ambulance. Then a couple minutes later while medics were dealing with Marcus, Marko (Vranjkovic) was in goal and he got smacked, knocked unconscious. So now he's in the ambulance.
"Enzo (Squicciarini-Moneny) was then fouled hard. He couldn't play the rest of the game."
Josh Samuel and Zibusiso Moyo also had to be subbed out with ailments later in the contest, which turned into an all-bets-off affair for a Griffins side that ran out of substitutions and healthy bodies.
"We're proud of the lads in the sense that (they hung in there) against No. 3 in the nation," said Loga. "Quite frankly, we were toe-to-toe with them when we were actually healthy."
In fact, the Griffins opened the scoring in the 6th minute when red-hot striker Everett Orgnero potted his third goal of the weekend – and fifth in the last four games – off a through ball from Simmons.
"It's just a repeat quote from yesterday," cracked Loga about his rookie striker. "He's doing well, his confidence is high. I think he sees the net a couple feet bigger. He's finding holes in seams. We kind of moved him around a bit positionally and we think we've found the spot for him."
That would be in the centre of the attack, rather on the wing, which has become a comfortable home for Orgnero.
MacEwan's lead against undefeated UBC wouldn't last, however, as the Thunderbirds struck in the 36th when Mackenzie Cole tapped in a rebound off Nick Fussell's shot.
Despite running into injury trouble, the Griffins managed to play with the T-Birds until late in the contest. In the 71st minute, UBC's Thomas Gardner scored the winner off a gorgeous looping 30-yard free kick that cleared the wall and was tipped by goalkeeper Seth Johnstone but still found mesh.
Caleb Clarke added an insurance marker for the Thunderbirds in the 79th minute, tapping in a great cross from Mitch Piraux.
Loga sees a different fate if the injuries didn't happen.
"That game would have gone down to the wire and it would have just been a great game if all those instances and misfortunes didn't happen," he said. "It was a great game to be a part of and then … unfortunately all that stuff happened."
So, UBC remains undefeated at 7-0-1, while MacEwan falls to 3-5-1. With no points to show for their last three outings, the Griffins went from being in the driver's seat for home field advantage in the playoffs to a dogfight just to secure a berth. They're now third in the Prairie Division, just a point ahead of fourth-place MRU, who have a game in hand, and only four up on Saskatchewan, who have two games in hand.
One of those teams will miss the playoffs, but Loga is determined the Griffins, seeking their first-ever berth with five games left, won't be the ones.
"Moving forward, the biggest thing today is we persevered, showing resilience," said Loga. "With these misfortunes, the team came together really well. The energy was positive and we just showed so much character and will and desire.
"We really became a family today and I think moving forward it's going to be a different group."
MacEwan will host Saskatchewan on Saturday (12 p.m., Clareview Field) and Lethbridge on Sunday (2:30 p.m., Clarke Stadium) in their final two home regular season games of 2018.
