View from the 18: Week 4

It was a cold and rainy evening in Stoke aka Ottawa 🙂 and we played a tough and gritty OISC team.

Despite only conceding one goal, our Wolves couldn’t capitalize on our chances. If our scoring opportunities had veered inches here or there, the result would have been more favourable.

It was a narrow defeat, but we’re confident and motivated to come back stronger in our rematch!

Stewart was our Wolves MR2 ‘Player of the Game‘. With our regular keeper unavailable, he stepped in and did an admirable job when we needed him most and he kept our opponents to only one goal.

The game took place on a rainy evening at Pinecrest Park against a young Ottawa City team. Both teams started cautiously, and the slippery grass led to individual mistakes, affecting the overall quality of play. However, our Wolves-Homa gradually took control of the match with their experience and managed to score the opening goal. Ottawa City responded with a long ball over the defense and a fast break, leveling the score. We then regained momentum and possession, scoring a second goal before halftime to head into the break with a lead.

In the second half, our Wolves-Homa completely dominated the field and ball, scoring five more goals to seal our victory. Notably, two additional Wolves-Homa goals were disallowed due to offside calls. Our goal scorers were: Mostafa Taherian, Mehdi Asadi, and Mohammad Dehghan with one goal each, and Amirhossein Amanzadeh and Vahid Nosrat with two goals each.

Vahid Nosrat was named our Wolves MR2-HOMA ‘Player of the Game‘ by the coaching staff and was presented with a commemorative gift.

A reset during the break was all we needed and what a second half showing. We scored 3 unanswered goals that deflated any hope our opponents had for a comeback. Their late attempts at changing their formation to counter our attack just made it worse. 

Props to Kevin Periera for maintaining possession of the ball deep in their corner and feeding Kevin Ridgway. whose ‘never give up‘ effort led to scoring the go-ahead and winning goal. Our midfield play was also solid and our keeper, Anthony Weber, came up BIG late in this game, saving a PK. He read their player’s attempt perfectly. Thanks to all of those who helped defend our back line. We were short, especially in the Center Back position and several players stepped in and played admirably.  Our clearances were precise and timely. And to Chris McMahon for always being first at the pitch and taking care of our net duties.

We welcomed back Kian Yamada from his European training. Watching Kian and Diego Gartner play together again was inspiring.

Thank you, Anthony and Stefano Giamberadino, for the post-game bevies. And finally we must mention Stef’s ‘crack‘ at their goal, which was brilliant and didn’t miss by much!

This week’s pre-game inspirational poem was written by our own Kevin Ridgway.

‘Nine’

In the heart of the pitch, where dreams align,

our Wolves are hungry, eyes on nine.

With grit and fire, they’ll chase the prize,

to claim the top, where glory lies.

The Falcons will fall, their wings clipped tight,

by Wolves who fight with all their might.

Another game down, but the hunger grows,

for nine sweet points, the Wolves impose.

No giving up, no turning back,

with every goal, they stay on track.

The league’s top spot, within their sight,

by Wolves who fight with all their might.

So hear the howl, the battle cry,

our Wolves ascend, they reach for sky.

Nine points to claim, their destiny,

our Wolves will reign, just wait and see!

Original WOLVES audio REMIX of ‘NINE‘ by our own Chris McMahon.

A solid back-line performance by our Wolves MR3’s Matteo Z. earned him our ‘Player of the Game‘ honours.

The match began with a tight contest between both sides. Our Farbod Azimi opened the scoring for the Wolves-Homa with a sharp and opportunistic finish. However, just before halftime, the Falcons equalized through a swift counterattack.

The second half saw our Wolves-Homa push forward with intensity. Following a corner kick, the referee awarded us penalty. Our Mohammad Dehghan stepped up and calmly converted it, putting our team ahead 2–1. After the goal, our Wolves-Homa shifted to a more defensive approach to protect the lead, but in the dying minutes of the game, the Falcons found the equalizer.

We played very well. It was a beautiful night for soccer and we earned our first point.

We’re seeing ‘game by game’ improvement!

At the end of this thrilling encounter, Vahid was chosen our Wolves-HOMA MR4’s ‘Player of the Game’

Our Wolves started with its usual 4-4-2 formation and quickly took control of the game. Just before the 10^th minute mark, Luca Ruggiero scored a great goal from the top left corner of the box. Shortly after, Helio Alves was fouled in the area. Salvador Herencia took the penalty shot to make it 2-0 for our Wolves. The opposing team played well during the first half, but a solid effort from our mid and defensive lines, kept them at bay. The Wolves kept creating scoring chances and following an assist from Q. Vuniqi, Helio scored our third goal. Towards the end of the half, the Des Collines Cougars scored a penalty to make it 3-1.

The second half of the game, the same pace continued, with the opposing team trying to score another goal. However, the defensive effort from Drew Pihlainen, Driton Selmani, Mahamadou Samake and Kyle Saunders, along with some great saves by our keeper, Bryan Lefebvre, kept their team from adding to their total. In our midfield, Bujar Hoti, Jeton Laqi, Grant McSheffrey, Jamie Harris and Jeff Vandermeulen continued to set up good plays for Helio, Q., and Kevin Moorhouse. Around the 15^th minute mark of the second half, Jeton scored our fourth goal. Towards the end of the match, Q. scored two more great goals, especially that chip from outside the box.

The final score was a convincing victory for our Wolves. We would like to recognize the sportsmanship of the Des Collines Cougars, and we wish them the best this season. Our next game will be on Friday, June 20th against the Ottawa Bears on their home field. We will need to be at our best to get a good result.

Forza Wolves!

Post-game celebration!

Our ‘Players of the Game‘ were Bujar, Drew and Salvador. It was a solid team effort.

Best seat in the house!

With the blow of the whistle, the match started and the Wolves did not waste time creating opportunities. Our Marco Bernabo frustrated with the Italian National Team’s play as of late had said that he would need to find his inner ‘Roberto Baggio’ to rid of his frustration and in fact he delivered the third goal of the game with a strike to the top right-hand corner of the net leaving everyone, including Marco, stunned! After a number of runs on the wings and up the middle without success, our newly signed midfielder, Jason Oehling decides to do the self-face planting play whereby everyone thought he would be hurt (he would be more embarrassed if anything). This confusion led to the West Ottawa players standing around while the Wolves moved forward and scored. If that wasn’t enough for Jason, just like his favourite movie character, Cinderella. Following a tackle, the back of his cleat was torn open and that was the end of Jason, after all, he only brings one set of cleats to a game…if he can now find a replacement set of cleats that will fit perfectly! Calling Prince Charming?

With Jason sitting on the sideline and staring at the cooler, it was Oscar Arrieta’s turn to exit the game with a ball hitting him square in the face and misplacing his contact lens. With blurred vision, it was wise for Oscar to shut it down. Talking about eyes, many were wondering what our defender, Roberto Smilovich, was doing on a couple of occasions where he was trying to strike the ball with his head but looked like he a fish jumping out of water, similar to his favourite movie, Free Willy!

Overall the match was dominated by our Wolves and scoring opportunities were available for anyone who could find themselves close enough to the net. Our defender, Gerry Valente, was playing extra hard to impress his brother, Enrico, who came out to watch or rather tell jokes to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, our striker, Jefferson Daugherty was struggling to get that coveted goal to the point he took off his shirt in disgust, but everyone asked that he put it back on has we had seen enough (he did finally score on a late game PK). With so much time available to himself, the Wolves GK could be seen walking up and down his playing area and thinking about the meaning of life and his weekend plans as he would go on to face only two shots that game. The lack of intervention stemmed from the excellent defensive unit that has been put together year over year.

Our ‘Player of the Game‘ was Charles Vincent.
He was selected by our previous recipient, Mark Freel. It was learned that Charles was Mark’s drive home
and if he didn’t give him the award, he would be walking. Honestly, Charles had another ‘cracker’ highlight reel goal!