Royals lose royally in a bitter feud with Mariners
By Jessica Berget, Editor-in-Chief
With no prior experience, knowledge of the terms, rules, or regulations of the world of sports, I attempt to cover the local games of the Douglas College Royals. This week: Men’s soccer.
I appreciate both men’s and women’s sports; they both have enjoyable aspects. However, men’s sports has one thing that the women’s (in my brief experience so far!) often lacks: yelling and fighting. And there was plenty of that in this week’s men’s soccer game against the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Mariners.
There was a heavy downpour minutes before the game began, perhaps as an omen of things to come.
The Mariners scored their first two goals within the twenty minutes of the game starting. Not a great start for the Royals, as illustrated by the groans and curses from the crowd, but the faithful were hopeful for a comeback.
The Royals tried desperately to gain control of the ball after the Mariners dominated the majority of the first half of the game. Douglas had a chance to gain some momentum when forward player Yianni Siafakas, attempted a goal but was thwarted by the Mariners goalie catching it.
VIU dominated possession of the ball with the Royals struggling to gain control of the game. Douglas celebrated their first victory of the game 28 minutes into the first half when defence player Burhan Waisy bicycle-kicked the ball into the Mariner’s net. The game then stood at 3-1 for VIU.
At this point the dark, gloomy clouds began to disperse and sun came through the field. Could this be a sign of good things to come? The end of the first half was signaled, and the Royals came into half-time obviously unhappy with the way the game was going.
Beginning of the second half down two goals, the Royals had lot to prove. The pep talk their coach gave them during half-time must have inspired these boys because they brought it, and hard. The Royals managed to gain possession of the ball and put together some passes, bringing it over to the Mariners side of the field. After an impressive sliding kick from a Mariners player, there was a lot of back-and-forth for possession of the ball like a bitter child-custody battle, but with a lot more yelling. VIU attempted their fourth shot four minutes into the second period but it went way over the net.
Both teams brought their absolute hardest in the second half—illustrated by the many collisions between the two teams. Some were fine after colliding with other players, but others were immobilised for some time. Between the heated playing, the players yelling and cursing at each other, and the cheers and groans from the crowd, there was never a dull moment in this game.
Douglas tried to bring up their score again with Siafakas, but he kicked the ball way over the net. There were some impressive passes between Armando Rodriguez and Joshua Penny, but VIU came to slay, not to play. Everyone held their breath when Siafakas made another goal attempt 18 minutes into the half, just barely missing while hitting the top post.
Penny and Rodriguez were subbed for Taylor Richardson and Abdul Ali 21 minutes in, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. After struggling for the ball and the Royals goalie out of the net, the Mariners made their fourth goal half-way through the last period, much to the dismay of the Royals’ side of the crowd.
There was almost a fifth goal made by the Mariners, but it just bounced off the top post. Richardson tried at the net but it was swiftly caught by Mariners goalie. The Royals couldn’t win this one in the last 10 minutes of the game but still played a great game with some awesome passes by Richardson, Ali, and Jaxon Bain.
