Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Bad breaks and misfortune continue to find the MacEwan Griffins men's soccer team, who fell 1-0 to the Trinity Western Spartans on Sunday at Edmonton Scottish.
They hit two posts.
They had two calls that they argued should have been PKs.
And the real kicker: Chance Carter was ejected in the first half for arguing with the head referee, forcing MacEwan to play a man short for the final 52 minutes and change.
Somehow, despite all of that, they still gave Trinity Western all they could handle – a moral victory, if you will, out of a devastating loss that drops their record to 2-5-1.
"The guys have belief," said MacEwan head coach Adam Loga. "Week in, week out, I've said, we can play with anyone. There's another perfect example – we did it with 10 men."
Still, the result leaves a sour taste and harkens back to the first weekend of the season, which was full of bad bounces and calls that didn't go their way.
"I'm proud of the boys," said Loga. "We've stayed together, we've stayed resilient, hit two posts, should have had two pens. We just need some breaks and some bounces.
"It's a run that I haven't really seen before in my 20 years as a pro player, college player, university coach. I haven't seen it."
Rakan Yassin was unlucky not to have opened the scoring in the 12th minute as he took a pass from Ali Yildiz in tight and had goalkeeper Alexander Cordeiro beat, but hit the post.
Yassin hit another post in extra time before the half and was robbed by Cordeiro on an inspired strike in the 74th, all denying him a chance to become MacEwan's career points leader (he shares the record with Lahai Mansaray at 18).
"Ricky leads the charge," said Loga. "He's a handful, he works and leads by example. I'm proud of him.
"I just hope we can close this season out – his last year – with something a bit more. We're doing everything right, we just have to stay patient and get a couple of breaks."
Trinity Western's Francis Powell scored the lone goal of the contest in the 28th minute when he made a cut and sent a low screamer inside the left post that eluded a diving Oleksandr Popravka.
The Spartans thought they'd made it 2-0 when Emmanuel Dan-Adokiene headed it past Popravka in the 58thminute, but he was ruled offside.
Popravka finished with five saves for the Griffins, while Cordeiro stopped two.
Kayden Dugas was named Game MVP for MacEwan as he made the difference on the right sideline for a team playing short-handed.
"We were able to be a bit more free and down 10 men, he could run that right side because he's accountable defensively even when he's overloaded," said Loga. "It allowed Ali and Ricky to be a bit more free.
"He was unlucky. I thought he deserved a pen there in the second half. But just the engine that he has and just the will he showed today (made him our MVP)."
