Men's Soccer Huskies set program record in victory over Voyageurs
The Keyano Huskies Men's Soccer team put together a historic performance on the pitch Saturday at Shell Place, trouncing the visiting Portage College Voyageurs by a 10-0 final.
In addition to moving to 5-0-0 on the season, the Huskies set a new program record with the most-ever goals in an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) regular season game while also reaching double-digit goals in a regular season game for the first time ever.
"We're looking to be good and we can be very good, but we've got to make sure that we check these boxes and don't let off every time," Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. "At times, [it was] really nice.
"The [opposing] team doesn't really stand a chance against us and at other times we let a team stick around and do their thing, which is really something we need to get a hold of."
James Bartha continued his torrid rookie season with a four-goal performance to give him 10 goals on the campaign. Teammate Caleb Kehler polished off a hat trick while Karl Tronche also struck for his second goal of the season.
Celebrating their first-ever ACAC goals in the matchup were Edmonton products Aaron Ernst, who had the game-winning goal in the ninth minute, and Dino Hronopoulos, who scored the Huskies' 10th and final goal in the 90th minute just before the final whistle.
"It meant everything," Ernst said of his first goal. "My family was watching and to just score and celebrate with them, it meant the whole world."
With his side surging offensively and defensively with 22 goals for and one against, Ernst said the program wanted to quickly erase any memory of the Huskies' goalscoring woes around the conference.
"It's just a showing for teams to know that last year we struggled scoring goals, but this year we have no problem," Ernst added. "If we get the chances that we're going to punish them."
Slotboom added praise for his rookie, appreciating his versatility on the field.
"Aaron is just one of those guys that does whatever is needed," Slotboom said. "You put him in at any position on the field and he's going to do whatever he can to make it work.
"He's done that the whole season so far."
Bartha's scoring proficiency thrust him into the ACAC goal scoring lead. The rookie striker remained steadfast in his pursuit of team wins and bettering his game as the season went along.
"[My] finishing was okay, but I realize that if you want to become the top, you've got to finish every chance and I wanted to do that," Bartha said.
There's no denying Bartha's strong start either as he is now one of three Keyano Huskies Men's Soccer student-athletes to score double-digit goals in a single season, following the duo of Rodrigo Wogel Koebsch and Pedro Bianchi, who had 12 and 10 goals respectively during the 2015 outdoor season.
The success has paid dividends in the standings for the Huskies, who lead the ACAC North with 15 points, but won't rest on their laurels just yet. This coming weekend, the Huskies will return to Edmonton to challenge the Concordia Thunder and King's University Eagles.
Saturday's matchup against the Thunder is scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m. with Sunday's date against the Eagles scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
HomeTeam Live to broadcast Huskies' road matchups
Sunday's matchup will be available to stream via HomeTeam Live, part of a new partnership with the ACAC that will see the streaming of select games for the 2022 outdoor soccer season.
The Huskies' matchup against the Eagles will be streamed live and available on demand after the game is complete. All games will include HD video, score clock, video content, and instant replays.
Livestreaming instructions on HomeTeam Live:
Head to app.hometeamlive.com
Click sign in
Create an account
Choose the plan "Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference"
Complete your sign up process
Watch the games HERE
For additional assistance please contact us at support@hometeamlive.com.