Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
LETHBRIDGE – Two days after a huge win over Saskatchewan, the Griffins men's soccer team came out flat at the wrong time.
A win on Saturday afternoon would have clinched a playoff berth, but instead, they spent most of the match chasing a Lethbridge team who locked up a post-season spot of their own with a 3-0 win.
"Lethbridge, credit to them – they come out with a high level of compete and work rate every match," said Griffins head coach Adam Loga. "We need to match it to let our skill take over and we didn't do that today."
With the result, the Pronghorns finish third in the Canada West Prairie Division with a 4-5-5 record and will visit the Victoria Vikes (9-4-2) in the opening round of the playoffs next weekend.
Despite the loss, the Griffins are still alive for the final playoff spot in the Prairie Division after Calgary concluded the campaign with a 2-0 loss against Mount Royal.
That leaves the Dinos (4-7-3) just three points up on MacEwan (3-7-3) and the Griffins have one game left – Sunday vs. Thompson Rivers (6-7-1). Since the Griffins own the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Dinos, they would finish fourth in the division with a win over the WolfPack.
"We knew that if MRU took care of business like they've been doing all year that it would give us a second shot," said Loga. "We rested some guys after going down 3-0 early in the second half. We've just got to hit the reset button, be that goldfish, if you will, with a short memory, and get back at it tomorrow."
The Griffins and WolfPack will meet at 2 p.m. (Jasper Place Bowl, Canada West TV). If UNBC beats UBC Okanagan in a game in Kelowna, B.C. two hours before kick-off in Edmonton, the WolfPack will also need a win to make the playoffs as they are only a point ahead of the Timberwolves heading into the final day of the regular season.
MacEwan didn't muster much against the Pronghorns on Saturday, putting only two shots on net. It was a far cry from the pumped-up team that beat Saskatchewan 1-0 on Thursday night.
"Unfortunately, we just came out on the wrong end of some calls and guys kind of lost focus," said Loga. "They scored off three set pieces, one was a (PK). They didn't really beat us in the run of play – it was more off the set pieces, which we know they're good at as well. We just didn't have the effort today.
"Hopefully, we're hungrier tomorrow."
