Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The save should be on Canada West season-ending highlight reels.
Jackson Cowx's next-level reaction time to get a hand on Felix Guité's 78th-minute top shelf blast from 15 feet away was the difference on Saturday as the UFV Cascades escaped with a 2-1 victory over the MacEwan Griffins.
"Realistically, I should have kind of side-footed that instead of lacing it, but in the moment, I thought I had him right where I wanted him," said Guité, a half-time sub who was named Game MVP for the Griffins. "I thought I needed a powerful shot right into the top of the net, but obviously the keeper had some insane reaction time there."
Guité scored MacEwan's lone goal in the contest – in the 60th minute – but the Griffins fell short in a game fairly evenly played.
With the result, UFV improves to 5-2-2, while MacEwan drops to 2-4-1 in the Canada West standings.
"It was a set piece again that let us down, but I thought we were the better team," said Griffins head coach Adam Loga. "We knew they were pretty good in attacking transition there, so we had to be careful on the weak side. We knew they were weak on the diags, exploiting the wide channels and I think we did exploit them there.
"Great save at the end, lost mark on a set piece and that's the difference."
Indeed, UFV went up 1-0 in the contest off a set piece on the final play before half-time as Adam Szymanski headed Anthony Vega's corner kick into traffic and the ball dropped onto the boot of the one guy on the pitch you don't want to leave unmarked. Canada West leading scorer Mateo Brazinha made no mistake, planting his seventh of the season behind MacEwan keeper Oleksandr Popravka.
The Cascades took a 2-0 lead in the 52nd minute after a series of contested plays bounced the wrong way on the Griffins, allowing UFV to move into the attacking third with control. Adriano Consiglio jumped onto a loose ball and chipped it over Popravka and in for what would stand up as the game winner.
Guité's goal came not long after as Nicolas Luczkiewicz ran down the ball on the right wing and cut it inside. Guité missed it, Rakan Yassin hit it behind him only to see it blocked, before Guité had another go.
"Honestly, I just saw the defender and looked to put it in between his legs and just shot it as hard as I could," said Guité.
MacEwan had other chances to put more on the scoreboard, such as Luczkiewicz's cracker from the top of the box in the third minute that Cowx got a fingertip on to put it off the bar and down, but it stayed out.
Cowx finished with five saves, while Popravka had four for MacEwan.
"I thought we started well," said Guité. "I think we had them on the back foot at the beginning. But obviously they got the first goal. I thought they slowed down a little bit.
"I think it's a good game to build off of. I think we'll be better tomorrow, for sure."
The Griffins will host Trinity Western on Sunday (12 p.m., Edmonton Scottish, Canada West TV), while UFV heads across town to face Alberta.
