GAME ONE: SMA vs SVHS
Team pic…just not sure what is distracting William but note our serious midfielders on the ends. These guys take no prisoners!
Front row; Left to right: Horland Ranaivoson, Josiah Hebert, Amor-Ilyasse Ghecham, Berthley Assong, Matthis Haddad Lolot, Abdiel Nathan Fotsing Kengne, Dann Lorenzo Wassou
Monday night September 22 at 7 PM the Eagles Soccer Team took to the field here in Edmundston against Southern Victoria High School. There were a lot of nerves as pre-season preparations were short and we had an abundance of young players. As in previous years, we have the widest range of grades playing in a varsity league – grades 6 to 12 playing against grades 10-12.
As coaches we focus on the quality of play and everyone was up to the task of working hard and trying to improve. Coaches emphasize it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them. Obey and Lorenzo were named co-captains and took on their roles as team leaders.
The score opened with Obey beating the keeper in the 9th minute of play (1-0). Leading up to this all the players were passing and moving the ball brilliantly. It wasn’t long and Lorenzo ripped shot past the Southern Victoria keeper in the 10th minute (2-0). Nathan added to the tally with some hard work and made it 3-0 in the 11th minute.
We had a rookie breakthrough when Owen scored a well-deserved goal in the 24th minute. He showed good speed and effort in his first year for the team. With Owen’s goal, the first half ended 4-0.
We didn’t get to 4-0 without solid defense. Ilyasse and Noah did a great job keeping the back clean and providing good protection for Kyle who made his debut as goalkeeper with clean sheet. Kyle efficiently handled all the balls that came his way. William, Steeve and Lorenzo made a solid midfield controlled the game throughout.
Meriem frustrated her opponents with her skill and ability to connect passes. Steeve, in his third year on the team, displayed an abundance of skill and understanding of the game. He continually created options for his teammates and attacked the offensive zone time after time.
Southern Victoria improved in the second half and their goalkeeper made several challenging saves to keep the score frozen at 4-0 until the 68th minute when Obey tallied his second goal to make it a brace (that’s 2 goals for you non-footy people) and gave the Eagles a 5-0 lead. For those of you that caught it, Prya did a Maradonna move to get by a player – where did she learn that? Horland who worked solidly throughout the game was rewarded in the 69th minute with a flashy goal to end the game at 6-0.
Front row; Left to right: Horland Ranaivoson, Josiah Hebert, Amor-Ilyasse Ghecham, Berthley Assong, Matthis Haddad Lolot, Abdiel Nathan Fotsing Kengne, Dann Lorenzo Wassou