Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – Converting a penalty kick in the 80th minute, captain Stefan Gajic led the MacEwan Griffins men's soccer team to its first victory of the Canada West season on Friday night.
Ousman Maheshe was interfered with by Pronghorns goalkeeper Tegan Romaine on a through ball and Gajic made no mistake for a 3-2 Griffins win that pushes their record to 1-1-1.
"I hope it's the first of many," said MacEwan head coach Adam Loga. "It's great to have the room in there share it together for the first time.
"Lethbridge, as always, doesn't make it easy on anybody who travels down here. For our guys to grind out the last 15 odd minutes plus stoppage time and just work for one another, is something we can definitely take from this and grow from."
After Lethbridge opened the scoring in the 3rd minute on Danilo Morales' tally, Rakan Yassin evened things up for the Griffins in the 28th on a play that started with a nice ball from Manny Kanu, continued with Abass Ajibade throwing it up to Yassin and the reigning MacEwan Male Athlete of the Year picking the bottom corner near post.
MacEwan took a 2-1 lead in the 32nd when Chance Carter hit Ajibade, who dummied the ball for Egzon Jeteshi and the rookie made no mistake, cracking one inside the near post.
Lethbridge equalized in the 42nd when Morales scored his second and the game was played level for much of the second half before Gajic's winner.
"It's huge," said Yassin. "We're getting off on the right foot here. Last weekend was just a one-point weekend. We felt we deserved more, but we're definitely getting off on the right foot on this road trip. Hopefully, we can carry it on to Sask as well."
The Griffins board a bus bound for Saskatoon on Saturday in time to face the Huskies on Sunday (2 p.m., Canada West TV).
Friday's win is the type of triumph that can certainly bring the Griffins together.
"It was the type of win we can build on as a group because the grind was necessary and being together on the pitch as one was necessary, especially at the end there," said Loga. "Again, we just want to keep getting better every weekend and gel more and more each game, so going into Sask hopefully we're that much better."
Chance Carter picked up an assist on Egzon Jeteshi's first-half goal (Lethbridge Sports photo).
