CALGARY - Despite going down a man after a red card late in the first half, then conceding two goals early in the second, the Dinos men's soccer team battled back to win 3-2 against the Mount Royal University Cougars on a windy Saturday at West Varsity Pitch.
The dramatic comeback marks the third time the Dinos have stolen points late this season. Last Friday, the Dinos came from three goals down to draw with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The weekend before that, they came from a goal behind to defeat the University of Alberta Golden Bears 2-1.
"They never give up," said Dinos team manager Eddie Bardana, filling in for head coach Brendan O'Connell. "They're always in it. As long as they keep positive and keep fighting, anything's possible."
All three of the Dinos' goals came from forward Dominic Russo in the last 10 minutes. The fourth-year Dino now tops the conference scoring charts with seven goals. The Cougars' tallies came from forward Kyle Houston and midfielder Justin Anderson-Louch.
Facing a 6-2-0 Cougars team that hadn't dropped points in three games, Bardana said the focus for the Dinos on Saturday was defense.
"We've been giving up goals. We gave up three to Lethbridge, three to Saskatchewan and two to Grant MacEwan. The focus today was being behind the ball, being tight and making them work for their goals," said Bardana.
The strategy obviously worked in the first half. In an admittedly dull 45 minutes, neither team was able to come up with any serious scoring chances.
The most noteworthy event in the first half was a red card for Dinos right back Robert Ovenden-Kamkai for a late, crunching tackle on Cook in the 36rd minute.
Going down a man was an obvious blow to the Dinos, who had started playing better shortly before Ovenden-Kamkai's ejection. To shore up the defense even more, the team went from a 4-3-1-1 formation to a more conservative 4-4-1.
As the second half started, the wind died down but the Cougars' offense picked up. Perhaps smelling blood due to having an extra man, the Cougars piled pressure on the Dinos' defense. Within six minutes of the restart, Houston scored the game's first goal in the 51st minute. A Cougars' cross from the left landed at the head of a wide-open Josh Cameron at the back post. The first year midfielder's header was saved by Dinos keeper Colin Hasick, but the rebound fell to Houston to tap in from close range.
The Cougars doubled their lead just three minutes later. A poor Dinos' give-away in the midfield left the ball at the feet at Anderson-Louch. From almost 30 yards out, the first-year midfielder blasted a spectacular shot that flew just past Hasick's fingertips and into the bottom left corner.
The visitors continued to press, not content with their two-goal lead. In the 77th minute Hasick made a nice close-range save from winger Cody Cook.
"At halftime, we made a plan to defend and try to get them on the counter, but it didn't go our way," said Russo. "They got two shaky goals I felt we could have stopped."
Although hopes were dwindling for the home side, the Dinos didn't give up. Forward Michael McKinnon came close to pulling one back for the Dinos, taking a shot that forced an impressive diving save from Cougars keeper Kamil Zielinski. But at 2-0 down with a man less, a Dinos comeback was looking increasingly unlikely.
That all changed in the 80th minute. Mark Bohdan made a good run down the left side, beating his mark and whipping a cross in to the near post. The ball bounced around the goal mouth before Russo was able to bundle it in across the line to make the score 2-1.
Sensing the possibility of another comeback, the goal raised the Dinos' spirits. Three minutes later, Dinos captain and center back Dominic Zator played a long ball into the Cougar's box towards the head of Russo. The forward got a slight touch to it, deflecting his header off Cougars center back Ali Al-chaer and over Zielinski to tie the game.
The Dinos finished off their dramatic comeback a few minutes later. Russo picked up the ball just outside the Cougars' 18-yard box, rounded his mark and fired a low, right-footed shot in off the post to complete his hat trick.
"I had a chance one on one, shifted it to my right foot and hammered it home bottom left," said Russo.
The win keeps the Dinos in fourth place in the Canada West prairies division, with either one or two games in hand against the three teams ahead of them. The loss puts the Cougars in second place, with a 6-3-0 record.
The two teams will rematch tomorrow afternoon, 2:30pm at Mount Royal University's Stadium Field.
-UC-