Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – There was no easing into the season for the Griffins men's soccer team, drawing offensive powerhouse Mount Royal University on the opening day of the 2022 Canada West campaign.

Led by reigning Canada West player of the year Mohamed El Gandour and rookie French midfielder Mowbray Beghin – who each had goal and an assist – the Cougars posted a 3-0 win over the Griffins at the Edmonton Scottish Soccer Dome.

"They're very well organized, very well coached and they've had three, four, five games under their belt already," said Griffins head coach Adam Loga. "This was our first one where we were able to put on the strip and the kit. 

"We made them look good in certain scenarios, but hopefully we can clean that up tomorrow."

All things told, Loga wasn't disappointed with the effort, especially given how many newcomers on his team have been parachuted in and out of training. 

Ricky Yassin just returned from trial in Jordan, while several rookies just rejoined the team from Canada Summer Games. As a group, they're still learning to work together.

"There's a lot of positives," he said. "We had a pretty unique August with guys in pro trials, guys coming in late – we had five-six guys at Canada Games. So, it's going to take a while for this to click. It's going to take a while for them to get the intricacies of the game model, but outside of a couple breakdowns, I thought we played pretty well."

Breakdowns happen to most defences when El Gandour is creating in the attacking third, but sometimes pressure just leads to fortunate bounces, too.

The Cougars opened the scoring in the 36^th minute when El Gandour's shot deflected off Beghin and spun into the open side of the cage with MacEwan goalkeeper Josh Stayko bracing for the initial save.

Josh Stayko almost stopped a one-timer from reigning Canada West player of the year Mohamed El Gandour in the 58th minute, but it snuck past him. Stayko played well with nine saves (Rebecca Chelmick photo).

The duo struck again in the 58^th minute when the Cougars advanced with numbers before Beghin sent a low cross to El Gandour at the goal mouth for a one-timer that just snuck past Stayko.

Jonathan Walter completed the scoring when he scored off a rebound in the 66^th minute.

Stayko made nine saves for the Griffins, none better than a huge diving stop in the 71^st minute off David Schaefer.

Sterling Kerr stopped five for MRU to earn the shutout.

MacEwan had several late chances to wreck Kerr's clean sheet when a flurry of subs came on in the waning moments. Most notably, Tommy Millar nearly finished off a great buildup in the 88^th with a point-blank blast that Kerr stopped and Ousman Maheshe cracked one from a sharp angle in tight in extra time that Kerr parried away.

"Our subs came on late – a couple of debuts," said Loga. "They did very well for us. Head was up, energy was still up and we weren't going to give up, so kudos to the lads for keeping it switched on and we'll work into tomorrow."

The Griffins will host Calgary on Sunday (1 p.m., Edmonton Scottish, Canada West TV).