Women's Futsal Huskies take perfect first weekend in stride

The Keyano Huskies Women’s Futsal team emerged victorious from their first two matches of the 2022 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Futsal season Saturday in Lac La Biche, Alta.

Opening play with a 3-0 shutout of the Lakeland Rustlers, the Huskies then topped the Portage College Voyageurs 7-1 to move to the top of the table in the North East Division standings.

“The girls played really well,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “They had moments where they were better, which is when the games were decided.

“Not quite consistent enough so not quite where we want to be, but you come away with two wins, you can’t complain too much about the results. Definitely a long way to go still.”

Emma Bendera and Marissa Mestre opened the scoring in the first half of the win against the Rustlers. Natalie Orellana tallied the lone goal of the second half to confirm the final score in the Huskies’ favour.

Madison Tyson collected the shutout in net to earn Player of the Game honours.

“Our team was blocking shots; they were doing really well with that and stepping up to the shot, rather than backing away and letting them shoot on me,” Tyson said. “I didn’t have a lot of shots. When I did, they weren’t terribly hard shots.”  

Saturday’s second match featured a hat trick from Orellana as well as pair of goals from Bendera against the Voyageurs. Selena Arima and Mestre also found the back of the net in the win.

Nathalie Andersson took over in net for the second game, conceding just the single goal.

“I thought both girls stepped up,” Slotboom said of his goalkeepers. “Both have played some goalkeeper positions, but not at this level and not consistently.

“Madi did really well in the first game and I thought Nathalie did a great job in the second one as well.”

As for the offensive side of the ball, Slotboom took the performances in stride noting how there was room for more growth.

“There’s some things that we worked on during training and such that we didn’t quite see today, which is unfortunate because I think if we did, the scores would’ve reflected that even more so,” he said.   

Tyson shifted to playing out in Saturday’s second game, playing a key defensive role for the Huskies like she did during the 2021 outdoor season.

Acknowledging it took the Huskies some time to adjust, she was happy they were able to reach their full potential in pockets of play at points.

“We played fast in the Lakeland game and we pressed well; more as a team we isolated,” Tyson said. “In the Voyageurs game we didn’t do that as well, but I thought that we figured everything out more towards the second half.

“It was just a slower game so it was a little bit harder. We eventually figured it out and I think we worked well as a team."

At 2-0, the Huskies top their division and have a three-point advantage on the Rustlers, who defeated the Voyageurs 16-0 earlier on Saturday.

The Huskies will return to ACAC Women’s Futsal action on Saturday, February 19 in Lac La Biche, Alta. when they take on the Voyageurs at 10:00 a.m., followed by a 1:00 p.m. clash with the Rustlers.