Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LANGLEY, B.C. – After managing to hold the homestanding Trinity Western Spartans to a scoreless draw for more than 75 minutes, the wheels came off spectacularly for the MacEwan Griffins late in Friday night's match.
TWU scored three times in less than 13 minutes to score a 3-0 victory over MacEwan in Canada West men's soccer action.
MacEwan's second-straight loss drops their record below .500 (2-3-3), while the Spartans improve to 5-3-1. The Griffins haven't won in four straight now, stretching back to Sept. 4.
Things were going along decently for MacEwan on Friday until the 76th minute when Trinity Western's Thomas Powell opened the scoring.
"We defended really well – I'm proud of the boys, they worked hard for 75 minutes," said head coach Adam Loga. "Then we just got a bit naïve playing out the back. We conceded and went down and never really got back and found our groove again.
"I think some of the lads got rattled a bit after that first goal and the environment and they just couldn't recover from there."
A boisterous pro-Spartans crowd acted as a 12th man and the Griffins couldn't find their footing. TWU conceded again just four minutes later when Luca Alberti's header went in off a deflection.
Noah Kroeker put the nail in the Griffins' coffin with an 89th minute tally as MacEwan desperately tried to muster any sort of offensive opportunity.
"In a match like that, it was high intensity, high energy," said Loga. "It was a pretty electric atmosphere, so it's a difficult game for guys to go into as well. You ride with some of the guys and maybe fatigue hit them a little bit at the end.
"We were pressing to tie it up and gaps happen, men get lost and here we are."
Griffins' goalkeeper Josh Stayko finished with four saves on seven shots, but Loga noted he deserved a better fate as the team collapsed in front of him late.
"Josh Stayko's been incredible for us," he said. "He played well again tonight. We were unlucky and a bit naïve to allow them to concede that first one. So, we've just got to dig deep and see it out to the end and do him a favour.
"There's no reason he should have three goals against to his stats and there's no reason we should have three goals against to our stats. We've just got to see out that last 15 minutes and just help him out."
That's the lesson the Griffins will take into their next contest, a Sunday match in Prince George, B.C. against the UNBC Timberwolves (1 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).