Dinos down WolfPack, advance to CW Final Four
October 29, 2022
KAMLOOPS - The visiting Calgary Dinos men's soccer team battled both the host TRU WolfPack and the elements to snatch a 2-1 Canada West Quarter-Final victory Friday night.
With winds gusting up to nearly 70 kilometres-per-hour throughout the night, both teams struggled to play the ball but it was the Dinos that came out the better with Decklin Mahmi and William Omoreniye scoring goals on either side of halftime.
"The wind and the weather was a bit of a leveler, it forced both teams to change their style of play and I think in the end we were a little more resilient and saw it through to the end," said Dinos assistant coach Kevin Francis.
Ante Grgic responded for the 'Pack in the 90th minute of play but it was too little, too late.
Calgary will now move onto the Canada West Final Four next weekend. That conference championship tournament will be hosted by the highest remaining Pacific Division after the Quarter-Finals wrap this weekend.
For TRU, their sights now shift to the U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship presented RBC. Despite bowing out of the playoffs with the loss, the WolfPack have an automatic berth to the tournament taking place from November 10-13 inside Hillside Stadium as hosts.
Calgary had the advantage of having the wind at their backs in the first half and took the early lead off a WolfPack miscue. Confusion on a pass back to Jackson Gardner in the TRU net allowed Mahmi to slip past everybody in an orange jersey and slide the ball into the back of the net.
Despite TRU controlling a vast majority of play for the remainder of the first half and most of the second, it was Calgary that doubled their lead in the 86th minute. A rebound off a blistering shot from Derek Brust found its way to Omoreniye who made no mistake to tuck in the insurance marker.
"Two mistakes pretty much cost us the game, the wind was impacting both teams," said Antulov. "I thought even in the first half we were the better side and in the second half we had them pinned in for the whole half, we just didn't get those opportunities to finish and we gave them two."
The WolfPack finally found a goal off their sixth corner kick of the game.
With regulation time having just expired, Grgic gathered a loose ball off the corner kick and whipped in a shot that eluded all defender for his first goal of his WolfPack career.
It was a case of too little, too late however as the Dinos led by captain Eryk Kobza were able to see out the remainder of the game and take the victory.
"The WolfPack's set-up play and delivery into the box was good but we had a plan with Eryk just sitting in front of the back two as a sweeper," said Francis. "When he's like that he's like a Rolls-Royce, he's faultless. He'd like to be playing a bit higher up the field and a bit more involved in the attack, but it works out the best for us as a team with him sitting there."
With winds gusting up to nearly 70 kilometres-per-hour throughout the night, both teams struggled to play the ball but it was the Dinos that came out the better with Decklin Mahmi and William Omoreniye scoring goals on either side of halftime.
"The wind and the weather was a bit of a leveler, it forced both teams to change their style of play and I think in the end we were a little more resilient and saw it through to the end," said Dinos assistant coach Kevin Francis.
Ante Grgic responded for the 'Pack in the 90th minute of play but it was too little, too late.
Calgary will now move onto the Canada West Final Four next weekend. That conference championship tournament will be hosted by the highest remaining Pacific Division after the Quarter-Finals wrap this weekend.
For TRU, their sights now shift to the U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship presented RBC. Despite bowing out of the playoffs with the loss, the WolfPack have an automatic berth to the tournament taking place from November 10-13 inside Hillside Stadium as hosts.
Calgary had the advantage of having the wind at their backs in the first half and took the early lead off a WolfPack miscue. Confusion on a pass back to Jackson Gardner in the TRU net allowed Mahmi to slip past everybody in an orange jersey and slide the ball into the back of the net.
Despite TRU controlling a vast majority of play for the remainder of the first half and most of the second, it was Calgary that doubled their lead in the 86th minute. A rebound off a blistering shot from Derek Brust found its way to Omoreniye who made no mistake to tuck in the insurance marker.
"Two mistakes pretty much cost us the game, the wind was impacting both teams," said Antulov. "I thought even in the first half we were the better side and in the second half we had them pinned in for the whole half, we just didn't get those opportunities to finish and we gave them two."
The WolfPack finally found a goal off their sixth corner kick of the game.
With regulation time having just expired, Grgic gathered a loose ball off the corner kick and whipped in a shot that eluded all defender for his first goal of his WolfPack career.
It was a case of too little, too late however as the Dinos led by captain Eryk Kobza were able to see out the remainder of the game and take the victory.
"The WolfPack's set-up play and delivery into the box was good but we had a plan with Eryk just sitting in front of the back two as a sweeper," said Francis. "When he's like that he's like a Rolls-Royce, he's faultless. He'd like to be playing a bit higher up the field and a bit more involved in the attack, but it works out the best for us as a team with him sitting there."