Courtesy: Meridian Booster


Rustlers futsal team strikes gold

Men’s futsal team takes the ACAC provincial title for the second–straight year

by Carl Carter

It was back–to–back titles for the Lakeland Rustlers men’s futsal team, as the club once again took first at the ACAC championships.

The team went undefeated on the way to the gold at the tournament in Medicine Hat this past weekend – closing out with a 4–1 win over Mount Royal in the championship game.

“It was a fantastic weekend. The boys played extremely well and deserved the gold,” said head coach Kevin Wagner. “They were the best squad out there and probably the best squad over the course of the three tournaments.”

The Rustlers opened the tournament with Friday’s 3–2 win over Mount Royal, but it was far from an easy match as the two clubs had not played against each other this season.

“We played well. That was the first time we played Mount Royal and it was a fair result,” said Wagner. “We were carried in that game with our midfield play (from) Omar Amador and Braydon Bretzer.”

Both Amador and Bretzer were key pieces to the Rustlers this season, and both were named to the All–Conference Second Team. Sven Waelechi was also named to the All–Conference First Team.

The Rustlers continued to roll on Saturday with a 2–1 win over Olds College and a 6–2 victory over Keyano College.

“We stayed patient against Olds, and we drew Olds out of position in the manner in which we were looking to, and we maintained our focus and just kept up our pressure on the ball defensively to maintain the lead,” said Wagner, adding the team finally got it’s offence going during the second match of the day against Keyano. “We got our strikers going in that game, and everyone as a group played extremely well in that game. It just seemed as though we were a little more eager to win that one than the opposition was.”

The Rustlers then met up against the Mount Royal Cougars once again in the final. It was a tougher match this time around, as the Rustlers were actually down, 1–0, but battled back to take the match, 4–1.

“In the second game we were actually down and the difference was we just executed better,” said Wagner. “I wouldn’t say we had a lot more scoring opportunities; we had the same amount but we eliminated them defensively. We stayed to the task of pushing them to the outside and blocking shots so they couldn’t penetrate through, and as a result we finished on our chances.”

Mount Royal would settle for silver and Keyano College would take the bronze.

The finish wrapped up another great season for the Rustlers men’s futsal program, as the team has took gold in the two years the ACAC has held futsal competitions.

“We ended off the season quite well. In our last six games we had only one loss, and in total we had 12 games and we went 10–2 and won futsal gold again,” said Wagner. “We’re improving, we’re starting to have the reputation of being able to play quality soccer and that we’re developing a good program.”




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