By Olivia Krol, Dinos Communications

CALGARY - Despite surging out to a lead in the first half, the University of Calgary men's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against the Mount Royal Cougars on Sunday evening at McMahon Stadium.

The Dinos jumped out with a quick attack in the opening minutes. The team was able to register the first shot of the match in the 4th minute, as Dominic Russo sent the ball at the goalkeeper, but was ultimately unable to find the net. Moments later, in the 7th minute, defender Dominick Zator took a hard shot on target that was also denied.

The Dinos struck for the first goal of the match in the 28th minute, as Leonardo Culina fed off Jorge Leon Gomez and Kieran Lane-Oppenheim, and buried a powerful long ball into the middle right corner of the net.

It was Culina's first goal in his Canada West career, and, when asked to describe the experience, he seemed pleasantly surprised. "Honestly, it just came out top of the box, and I was the first to react. It was on my left foot, I prefer my right; I just hit it and hoped for the best. It went in."

Following Culina's goal, the Dinos had a multitude of shots in the first half, but the opposition's defense was able to keep the match at 1-0. Robin Whittaker (38th minute) and Kieran Lane-Oppenheim (40th minute) both threatened the net following the lone goal, but were unable to ring in the advantage.

The Mount Royal Cougars broke through with the equalizer in the 55th minute, as Daniel Harrison picked up a pass from teammate Amrinder Virk and buried his second goal of the season into the back of the net.

The Dinos turned up the pressure, continuing the action till the final minutes of the game, but none of the chances generated were successful. Calgary had 16 total shots, while Mount Royal managed three. Hunter Brett made one save for the Dinos, while Kamil Zielinski turned away five attempts.

"We are in good shape, they guys have done very well," said Head Coach Brendan O'Connell. "They're scoring goals, creating chances, which is very important. I'm a little disappointed with the scrappy goals they are giving away, but overall I think they've done brilliantly and am happy with the position the team is in,.:"

Culina added, "Mount Royal came out a lot stronger in the second half. We didn't pick up the intensity till mid way in the second half. Going forward we must work on that if we want to advance and win something."

The Dinos will play host to Winnipeg next week, with both games set to kick off at 2:15 at West Varsity Pitch. Mount Royal will be on the road, playing Saskatchewan on Friday, October 21, and Lethbridge on Sunday October 23.

The scheduled Friday night road game versus the Cougars was postponed due to weather conditions.

-UC-

Photo by David Moll