Courtesy: Meridian Booster


Rustlers squads open the futsal season with a bang

by Carl Carter

The Lakeland Rustlers men’s and women’s futsal teams are off and running after opening up the season with a tournament championship this past weekend.

The men’s team went undefeated on the way to winning the title at the first qualifying tournament hosted by Keyano College. The women’s team wasn’t as fortunate as the squad only managed one victory.

“We were as successful as we wanted to be, which is positive,” said head coach Kevin Wagner about the men’s results. “We wanted to be able to compete at a high level and still be able to represent the championship which we won last year, and overall we did. We played quite well.”

The men’s team opened up the tournament on Friday with a 4–0 win over Ambrose College and a 6–2 victory over the host team. The Rustlers then went on a to 5–2 victory over Medicine Hat on Saturday, and a 3–2 win over Olds College to take the title on Sunday.

“The guys’ program has set themselves up for success at the next tournament coming up. Our program, I think we can definitely do just as well as we’ve currently done,” said Wagner. “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet and we’re going to keep working. I think we’ve set ourselves up for the next tournament and I think we’ll be very competitive at the final four.”

The women’s team opened the tournament on Saturday with a pair of 4–3 losses – to Medicine Hat and Ambrose. Both games were disappointing for the Rustlers, as the squad gave up a late lead against Medicine Hat, and then suffered the loss to Ambrose College – a team which is brand new to the ACAC, and still in the building stages.

“It was disappointing. We were up, 3–1, against Medicine Hat with about 10 minutes left, and they ended up scoring with six seconds left to go up, so we just struggled keeping focus through the whole second half,” said Wagner. “Against Ambrose in our second game we just played poorly. I don’t think Ambrose is an awful program or anything, but we just didn’t help ourselves in that game.”

The women’s team only has one more chance to qualify for the ACAC Championship tournament – with the final qualifying tournament taking place next weekend at Mount Royal University.

“I think we can (do well) and I think we have to otherwise we’ll be out in 10 days basically,” said Wagner. “We have to execute and play to our strengths as we head into that tournament.”





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com