Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Sports Information Officer
EDMONTON — A heartbreaking header with seconds left in extra time sent the MacEwan Griffins men's soccer team to a 2-1 defeat in their Canada West season opener on Wednesday.
The Mount Royal Cougars dove to the Foote Field pitch in celebration after Tyrin Hutchings headed in a sublime free kick from midfield by keeper Kamil Zielinski on essentially the final play before the end whistle.
The result sullied the reality: the Griffins (2-9-1 a year ago) were very much in it against the Cougars (7-4-1, a playoff team from 2015).
"We showed we can play with a playoff team and we showed we can play with them for 90 minutes," said Griffins head coach Adam Loga, who was appearing in his debut as the Griffins men's soccer head coach. "It's just encouraging and finding confidence and belief in our locker-room that we can do this."
That may be tough to say after the late goal caused a bout of dejection to course through Griffins camp. Loga notes, however, that the goals against were — to borrow a Dennis Green line — exactly what they thought they were.
"We mentioned to them games are won and lost on set pieces and all three goals today were on set pieces," he said. "I'm not saying they didn't believe us before, but actions speak louder than words in this case and they'll be switched on for the next game."
A back and forth first half between two teams feeling each other out was delayed by an injury to Cougars starting defender Rohin Nazari, who was down on the field for a half hour before being carted off in an ambulance with a suspected, and possibly season-ending, leg injury.
The man who subbed in for him — Jeremy Dallacosta — would later set up the opening tally of the earliest-starting game in Canada West history, sending a cross into Darius Ramsey for a header past goalkeeper Joshua Letendre in the 53rd minute.
But MacEwan was able to turn the tide, which is a credit to a young team entering the season with no fourth- and fifth-year players. A 67th minute free kick at midfield from Joshua Samuel sailed over the defence and dropped into the right side of the box for rookie Samuel Foster, who directed a sublime low header past Zielinski to the left twine to tie the score.
"Another set piece again," noted Loga. "We just had Foster sneak in on the back side stick there and he put it away. He got free. We worked a little bit on that this week.
"The boys are innovative in their own way and they found the back of the net."
Letendre made seven saves on nine shots and was solid in repelling a number of second-half point blank chances.
The Griffins will next host Calgary on Thursday (4 p.m., Foote Field).