Men's Soccer Huskies sweep Rustlers on road to remain perfect

The Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference's (ACAC) North Division can giveth and taketh away. 

For the Keyano Huskies Men’s Soccer team, the right results over Saturday & Sunday took them from third place in the division, and outside of the playoff picture, to first place in the division with a five-point lead on the next-closest team.
 
“It’s easy to get caught up in things going well and when we have things fully in control,” Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. “That’s why we continue to focus on one game at a time and one weekend at a time to make sure that doesn’t get caught up to us.”

Within the Huskies’ control were results on the pitch in Lloydminster, Alta. as they earned 3-1 and 2-1 wins against the Lakeland College Rustlers. Corbin Cyprien made 12 saves over the pair of games while five different Huskies found the back of the net, including the first-career ACAC goal for Kofi Boateng.  

“Good games; both of them,” Slotboom continued. “Different games. I think we played better on Saturday.

“Sunday, it was a little more of a battle, which was nice to see we could do that as well. Great to see both styles from the team.”

Also scoring in the weekend games were Dylan Stewart, Cleisson Anklam, Hafid Arellano, and Jacob Marshall.

Outside of their control was a 1-0 win for The King’s University Eagles against the NAIT Ooks. For the 5-0-0 Huskies, now ranked fifth in the entire country after the latest rankings from the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), their standing is well appreciated but not something to get lost in either.

“I don’t really look at the record; every game is one on its own,” Slotboom said. “It’s great, but we know there’s still more challenges to come and that’s the way our league runs.

“If you have a good weekend it’s great, but it turn very quickly around within one week’s worth of time as well. Just focus on things one game at a time so it doesn’t become a distraction of any kind.”
 
Just as the Huskies have now surged ahead of their divisional competition, if a pair of huge matches against the NAIT Ooks don’t go favorably, they could easily be back in the midst of the throng of teams easily again.
 
“We’ve really got to make sure that we don’t drop anything anywhere,” Slotboom continued. “The weekend against NAIT is going to be massive in deciding that.”
 
The Huskies return to action on the home pitch this weekend, welcoming the NAIT Ooks to town in a rematch of the 2023 ACAC Men’s Soccer Championship game. Saturday’s kick-off is scheduled for 4:30pm with Sunday’s rematch at 2:00pm.
 
Prior to Sunday’s kick-off for the Women’s game at 12:00pm, there will be a ceremony in recognition of the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation.