View from the 18: Week 5

It was a humid and suffocating night. Our Wolves had an amazing start though, leading 1-0 on a goal scored by our Anand Balaram to get us on the board. Going into the half, we were heads high against the top team in the League.

Unfortunately, the Eagles battled back with their teamwork and skills and we were down 3-1.

Overall it was a learning experience and we are excited to see progress with our squad, so far, this summer!

Our ‘Player of the Game’ was
Anand Balaram.
He scored our goal and was a beast up front!

This match, held at the University of Ottawa stadium, was highly anticipated since both teams were tied in points, sitting in the third and fourth spots in the League standings.

Our Wolves MR3 put in a fine winning performance in this game and as a result, shot to the top of the table! 🙌

Our Wolves MR3 will play their next match in week six against North Dundas Sonics on Wednesday, June 26, at 7:30 PM.

Congratulations to our team and Vahid and Soheil for their ‘Player of the Game’ and ‘Golden Boot’ honours!

We had a pedestrian first half. It seems we are always gauging our competition and maybe that cautious approach isn’t bad. There were at least three scoring opportunities that, in hindsight, we all know we should have buried.

Our second half was a completely different story. We started with that desperation and push that we’ve talked about. It began with CM Hardy Nunez de la Torre’s perfectly placed strike outside the 18 that caught the top corner. That was a thing of beauty! We followed quickly with a second, Dylan Tessier wasn’t going to be denied on the goal-mouth scramble their keeper couldn’t control. That goal seemed to knock the wind out of our opponents.

Kian Yamada made some precise, attacking runs all game and we were rewarded for his efforts with a nice goal to make it 3-0. Our LB, Jameson Bevington, who was fresh off the IR, topped it off to make it an even 4!
Let’s get this party started!!!

That increases our lead atop of our division. Well done lads!

A shout-out for another shut-out to our keeper Anthony Weber who was praising our back-line (and rightfully so) but he equally came up BIG on two of their in-close attempts to make some timely saves.

Special thanks to Kevin Pereira and Jameson Bevington for the variety of hydration for both during and after our game. 🙌

Our ‘Player of the Game’ (chosen by last week’s recipient Dennis) was Jameson B..
His triumphant return was a catalyst for our attack. Welcome back JB!
He chose a funky tune by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti called ‘Let’s Start’ as his celebratory post-game tune!

Early on, this match went back and forth, with both teams creating a few scoring chances. The Falcons packed their midfield and our boys struggled to gain a foothold. But slowly, our Wolves began to assert themselves, and would consider themselves unlucky to be down 1-0 at the half, after a nice finish from a former Wolf.

Early in the second half, the Wolves were handed a gift when a Falcon clearance popped 30 feet in the air and bounced into their own goal. Unfortunately, any momentum gained was lost with injuries to both Jeff Dennis and Liam Smithies, removing some of their attacking options. It was the Falcons who took the lead again, with a cross/shot sailing into the top corner. Not fazed, the Wolves kept coming and were rewarded when Timon Gareau finished off a cross from ‘Maaakkk’ to tie the game.

After that, the Falcons caginess convinced the ref that a ‘Maaakkk’ committed a foul in the box, on a corner kick. They were rewarded a PK allowing the Falcons to take the lead for the 3rd time. Not to be outdone though, our Peter Akpan drove to the net, rounded the former Wolf, and earned a penalty of our own, in the final seconds. Our Mike Owen calmly walked up and scored to tie the match on the last play of the game. The final score was a deserving result.

The back four of Corey Sul, Bert Lee, Mike Owen, and Kevin Beyer were solid throughout and were ably represented by Corey’s ‘Player of the Game’ effort. Corey shut down one of their top players all night and initiated the play on the Wolves’ 2nd goal.

Juan Nicolas Guerrero stepped in as the first rookie post-game host of the season, providing a delicious assortment of Colombian beef, chicken, and yuca pies, washed down by deliciously cold bevies. Unfortunately, we never tasted the Colombian dessert as it was awarded to our ‘POG’, Corey, ceremonially.

Corey Sul receives POG dessert.

The Wolves maintained their unbeaten start, now with a 3 wins-2 ties-0 loss record.

At the start of the second half, our Wolves continued to control the game, creating scoring chances that Q. did not waste, making it 4-0. However, Saigon responded with a goal of their own and they were on the board. But, any chance of recovery was mitigated with another penalty kick that Mahdi Hemmati converted, to make it 5-1. Towards the end of the game, Helio and Q. each scored once more.

Our OT6 Wolves are now third on the table. The ‘Players of the Game’ were Helio Cruz and Salvador Herencia-Carrasco. However, it was overall a team effort where different strikers had scoring chances, the mid-fielders supported both the defensive and offensive lines and the ‘D’ worked with our keeper, Bryan Lefebvre, to keep any danger at bay.

Our next game will be against the Ottawa Internationals Leopards OT6, in our home field.

Our team came ready to play, with Jefferson ‘Airplane’ Daughtery getting us off to a flying start with a couple of quick goals. Lots of other strong contributions from across the line-up, ultimately leading to our win (Bill McIntyre’s peach of a goal was the other real highlight of the night). The Gators were not without bite, and if we are being honest, probably should have scored a couple of goals, creating a couple of really good chances in the first half. Our backline stood firm. Overall we were certainly fair value for the win and our keeper, Dom Pecora, chalked up a second straight clean sheet.

As seems to be our luck this year, the win did not come without a cost, in the form of injuries. As usual, we were down to just 11 healthy bodies by the final whistle, with our thoughts focused on our injured players and hoping they have speedy, pain-free recoveries. Kevin Wirvin’s excellent choice of post-game bevies eased some of the pain, but we can only hope to avoid more guys on the trainer’s table (and the rest of you getting back into the line-up soon).