Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Seven times before they'd played to a draw with cross-town rival Alberta – all of them coming with their own 'close but no cigar' story of how they just couldn't find a way to beat the Golden Bears.
But on Saturday, the Griffins men's soccer team wrenched the monkey off of their backs and scored their first win over the Bears in 22 tries since joining Canada West in 2014, triumphing 1-0 at Foote Field.
"The staff and I always believed we could," said head coach Adam Loga. "We just needed the belief from the players. I think seeing is believing. By them executing the game plans very well again today, I'm happy for them first and foremost. It shows we very much can do it.
"We drew them and won this season. We didn't lose to them and that's all we needed to get the monkey off the back."
With the victory, MacEwan's second in a row, the Griffins improve to 2-7-3 on the season, dropping the Golden Bears to 5-5-2.
The match was scoreless until the 77th minute when Liam Van Laar's long free kick was headed backwards by an Alberta defender past keeper Trystan Read.
Flying out of nowhere was the speedy T-boy Fayia, who beat Read to the loose ball and tapped it into the open net.
"We kind of kept him inside and lower today tactically," said Loga of his star fullback, who previously played pro for FC Edmonton. "So, he had one or two chances getting high today and that was one of them. He just went for it. He said, 'hey, I'm just going to gamble on this one and hope he heads it back,' and he did. Here we are."
GOAL��
— MacEwan Griffins Men's Soccer (@GriffinsMSOC) October 4, 2025
T-boy Fayia uses his speed to score the only goal of the game as the @MacEwanGriffins knock off @BearsandPandas for the first time in a @CanadaWest match! Stay tuned for a recap.#GriffNation pic.twitter.com/AP9t8lKC24
Backing up a strong defensive effort, goalkeeper Oleksandr Popravka made two saves for his second-straight shutout as the Griffins closed it out.
"Lucio (Rivera) was awesome," said Loga of the defender. "That was one of the best games I've seen him play. Oleks was steady again. Two clean sheets in a row."
More than that, the victory was borne out of a togetherness that the Griffins just didn't have earlier in the season.
"The biggest thing is after that B.C. weekend – a little bit of a lull – the guys answered the bell," said Loga. "Things were said that needed to be said staff to player and they bought in. We had six guys doing well, what are the other five doing? Seven are doing well, what are the other four doing?
"Now, it's all 11. We're more one. Just following instruction, listening and executing game plans and they're seeing the rewards now."
The Griffins will close out the regular season with a road trip to Lethbridge Oct. 17 and to Saskatchewan on Oct. 19.
