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SG Soccer: Final League Game of the Season

10/15/2024

By Erik Van Dyke

Massey-Vanier is tough. Big and strong and skilled at every position, with some speed thrown in there as well. No weak spots, no letup, just a well-coached group of intelligent athletes pressuring you wherever you turn. No wonder they’re heavy favourites to win the 2024 ETIAC league banner.

Given that, our last ETIAC game of the year, at MVR last Tuesday, wasn’t all that bad.

Sure, Massey-Vanier opened the scoring only four minutes in when their offensive pressure resulted in a defensive clear rebounding off a Viking forward directly into the right corner of our net. And, yes, they followed up that fluky goal with a no-doubter beauty from 20 yards out that Dally had no chance on. But your Spartans weathered that early storm, did not concede another goal the rest of the game, and played the defending 2023 playoff champs pretty even in the second half.

It did not make for scintillating soccer for the fans, but against a team that good, I don’t mind seeing hard-fought, neutral soccer in between the two 18-yard boxes. The lack of scoring chances means we are battling in the midfield and defending intelligently.

So while highlights were few, there were some standout performances:

Charlotte battled through illness (again!) to give another steady, reliable performance on the wing.
Julia’s work rate was impressive, and though what she tried to do after winning the ball did not always work, she played with purpose.
Valerie played a full half at midfield and made some good things happen.
Annie had her steadiest half of the season in net.
And, most notably, Player Of The Game Allie played injury-free for the first time this season and was a force on defence, imposing her strength and fearlessness on the dangerous Massey attackers and injecting some much-needed physicality into our back line.

So, final score 2-0 for MVR, and we finish 4-4 in league play, which guarantees us third place and a semi-final date with (most likely) Alexander Galt when the playoffs start a week from now.

We have yet to seriously threaten Galt or Massey-Vanier this year, which makes us clear underdogs to win the ETIAC playoff trophy, as we would have to beat them back to back on the road to pull off the upset. But there are three things that make me think that yes, we can do this:

Every loss has taught us something.
We are getting healthier.
Sometimes, it’s rare, but sometimes, David DOES beat Goliath.

Could this be our time?

- Coaches VD & K

The year so far…

4 wins 6 losses 2 ties ETIAC Record: 4-4

Goals for: 18 Goals against: 20

PS Next up, the highlight of the season, the CAIS National Tournament, hosted this year right here at Stanstead College. Details on our CAIS Tournament page.

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