Men's Soccer Weekend Recap | September 18, 2017
If you saw the Lakeland Rustlers men's soccer team play on the weekend, you would think it was two different teams on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, the Rustlers struggled, dropping the game 6-0 to the SAIT Trojans. Sunday, the Rustlers rebounded and defeated the Olds College Broncos 3-0.
"What we were doing wasn't working," Rustlers Head Coach Kevin Wagner said, "so we had players change positions, and the result was promising." On Sunday, the Rustlers had nine players starting in different positions than they did on Saturday.
In Saturday's game, the Rustlers got down early and could never recover against a strong SAIT Trojans team. SAIT scored just one minute into the game and added goals in the 11th, 30th, 38th and 44th minutes to give the Trojans a 5-0 halftime lead.
The Rustlers switched goalkeepers at halftime, removing Zach Wagner and putting in Josh Hatzenbuuhler. The result in the second half was better, as Hatzenbuuhler only gave up one goal, in the 85th minute.
Player of the game for the Rustlers was #18 Evron Riggon.
On Sunday, many Rustlers starters found themselves starting in new positions, but the change proved to be a good one.
"The guys we had were very important players," Rustlers midfielder MacKenzie Longpre. "We executed well as a team and accepted the challenge. We had to get rid of yesterday right away, games like that are going to happen, but it was about coming out today and showing the league we can compete and play."
Rustlers midfielder Justus Yahyahkeekoot opened the scoring in the 20th minute, and Longpre added another in the 22nd minute to give the Rustlers the 2-0 lead.
In the second half, the Rustlers lead was increased to 3 when the Broncos misplayed a ball in the box and scored on their own goal in the 68th minute.
"Formation was a challenge; we were all over the place in the past three games", Yahyahkeekoot said. "Today we changed the formation and it helped us. We have lots of confidence after having a better game today."
Player of the game for the Rustlers was #20 Justus Yahyahkeekoot.
Next, the Rustlers head to Red Deer to take on the 1-3 Kings on September 23. The Rustlers next home games will be on October 14th and 15th when they play host to the Lethbridge Kodiaks and Medicine Hat Rattlers.