Men’s soccer team wins third consecutive game
By Courtnie Martin, Sports Reporter
To say it was merely raining during the men’s soccer game at Cunnings Field on September 28 would be an understatement. They were easily the worst playing conditions the team has faced all season.
The Royals started off very slowly. Their opponent, the Quest Kermodes, whom the Royals beat 3-1 in the season opener, took an early lead and finished the half ahead 1-0. Despite the downpour, captain Mohammed Ali hyped the team up for the second half to play through the adversity. Twenty-five minutes into the second half, the Royals found their equalizer to knot things up at 1-1; this was a momentum changer. From that point on, the Royals wouldn’t even allow their opponent an opportunity on goal.
Shortly after, the Royals had several attempts but couldn’t finish. Some of the rookies were having difficulty executing the plays Coach Paul Bahia had implemented. Bahia told the Royals that before a score he wanted three players to assist in the play: two passes and a goal. With 15 minutes left in the game, the Royals put all their hard work at practice into action. Quest was getting rattled; they were called for numerous fouls back-to-back and the Royals were getting into their heads. Rookie Dorian Colopisis broke the deadlock with nine minutes left to put the Royals up 2-1 when he found a gap between two defenders. Seemingly immediately after, the Royals scored again, only to see it be called by the referee.
With only a few minutes remaining, it was obvious the team was starting to click. Fifth-year Javid Khan made a glorious between-the-legs, no-look pass to his rookie teammate Illias (Louie) Bocolas to score the final goal of the game. When the final whistle blew, the scoreline was once again 3-1 for the Royals—good enough for their third consecutive victory. The win pushed the team’s record to 4-1-2.
Coach Bahia briefly discussed the game: “I think the guys showed a lot of heart. We haven’t played in weather like this at all this year. You have to be mentally tough, and they demonstrated that. We were off to a very slow start being down at the end of half but we fought back and won.”
