Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – At the end of the day, they left it all out there and came as close as anyone has this season to knocking off undefeated Mount Royal University.
That moral victory, however, will be little consolation for the MacEwan Griffins men's soccer team after a 0-0 draw Sunday with the Cougars ended their season short of the playoffs.
They needed to win on Sunday at McMahon Stadium to make the Canada West post-season for a second-straight year and had multiple chances to score the one goal they needed for three points.
Unfortunately, it just never came, despite one of their finest efforts of the 2022 campaign.
"The boys did very well today," said MacEwan head coach Adam Loga. "They left it all out (there). They played with desire, hunger and most importantly for each other. Unfortunately, we just came up a little bit short. We may have found the formula a bit too late.
"This season's a sprint," he added. "It's basically two complete months and if you find yourself in a tough wave or a bit out of form for 8-10 days, you can find yourself in the losing column four or five times over that span. Unfortunately, we hit that wave a little bit and we find ourselves coming up short."
The Griffins finish the 2022 season with a 3-7-4 record, an identical mark to Saskatchewan's, but the Huskies will make the playoffs in fourth place in the Prairie Division on a goals for/against vs. like opponents tiebreaker after the two teams traded 2-0 wins against each other.
"It's just such a short season, unfortunately, and you just have to figure it out quick or it's going to be a battle," said Loga, whose team was in a playoff position all season only to drop out on the final day after losing six of their final eight games. "I think everyone in that room right now knows the difference now between how we were playing the last couple of weeks versus how we played tonight."
The Griffins had multiple point-blank chances to net the goal they needed against MRU on Sunday. Their best came in the 30th minute when Cedric Nataroum's header off Joseph Abrahart's corner kick was stopped on the line by Cougars goalkeeper Sterling Kerr.
Ousman Maheshe also had a golden chance in the 46th, but Kerr was up to the task.
Nataroum almost scored just before the final whistle, but his shot off a corner kick was blocked and MacEwan couldn't find a way to put it in on a late scramble in the box.
Josh Stayko made eight saves for the Griffins.
"Stayko was steady," said Loga. "I don't think many of those were dangerous, to be completely honest. I felt we definitely out chanced them."
But none of those positives means MacEwan will see a men's soccer playoff game this season. If there is something to take out of it, however, there will be many young returning players who can only grow from the experience for next season.
"I think so. I think any time you experience stuff whether you're on the winning end or losing end of such a situation, you hope that they're open to that learning and open to those experiences," said Loga. "I think they were today. I don't think anybody's happy, and they're going to remember this feeling and make sure we don't leave as many points on the board next season."
Loga wanted to add a final shout out to his graduating seniors: Stefan Gajic, Abrahart, Michael Ho, Abass Ajibade, Zach Rochat and Sheldon Prasad, who've played their final seasons with the Griffins.
"They were the reason why we have been consistently on the playoff run," he said. "If they didn't stick it out when the program was very, very young, we wouldn't even be playing playoffs.
"We'll miss them, and it will definitely be different for the staff and the players to not see the group of them in the room anymore. We're just used to seeing them for five years. They'll be missed."
