Both the Olds College soccer teams lost a pair of games on the weekend.
The women lost 3-1 on Oct. 6 in Lethbridge against the Kodiaks and 3-0 at home against the Medicine Hat Rattlers the previous day, while the men were defeated 5-1 by the Rattlers and 4-0 by the Kodiaks.
Mark Oxer, the women's head coach, said he was most impressed with the sportsmanship showed by the Kodiaks' coach after the Broncos goalkeeper Vanessa Lea was injured on a play trying to save a shot in the second half. After Lea was out of the play, the Kodiaks scored to make it 2-1.
“The Lethbridge coach realized that his team scoring wasn't a fair goal and he told the girl that scored the goal that she should have put the ball out of play rather than shooting. And then he called his captain over and told them to let us score a goal to tie the game back at two all,” he said.
Lea broke a finger on the play, but Oxer said he hopes she will be able to play on October 19 and 20 against the Lakeland Rustlers and Red Deer College Queens.
Shayla Merriam got the Broncos' only goal.
Oxer thought the team played well on Oct. 5 against the Rattlers, but mistakes cost the Broncos.
Two of the Rattlers' goals resulted from lax defence, Oxer said.
“They got two goals that … we could have done better to defend (against) them. They scored one that was off a nice header, but again we could have done a better job putting pressure on them, making sure she didn't get it,” he said.
The difference against the Rattlers was the visiting team had more pressure all over the field than the Broncos, and that allowed them to better attack the net than the Broncos did, Oxer said, adding that the Broncos need to do a better job on first touches of the ball to make sure the team maintains possession. They also need to stay calm when they have possession.
“The couple of times we did have scoring opportunities, we panicked a little bit,” he said.
While Oxer said he does see improvement in the players, it's not translating on the scoreboard yet.
“The team's definitely coming along,” he said.
Humberto Aspillaga, the men's team coach, said the team deserved a better fate than being down 2-0 at the half against the Rattlers.
“We were attacking at the end when we should have had one or two goals, but the other team was a little better. We're playing better and better,” he said.
Injuries are currently costing the team, with not enough players on the bench to substitute out during important points in the game, he said, noting he would like to have 20 to 25 players. The team only has 15.
Aspillaga said while he would like to see the team get some ties while on the road, it's getting more difficult to get the results wanted, especially since the team keeps falling behind early in games and is having to play from behind.
“It's tough to come back and compete, especially when (the opposition scores) one goal, two goals and we have lost too many games. The first goal in the first five minutes (of the game on Oct. 5) demoralized our team right away,” he said.
Against the Kodiaks, Aspillaga said the Broncos played well, but came up against one of the best teams in the southern division.
“Playing away is difficult. We're improving every game.”
Darien Smawley got the Broncos' lone goal against the Kodiaks.
