On a night reserved to hit up a bar and watch Monday Night Football, the U21 Rinos hit the road to play a crucial game in North Vancouver against a team that was scoring at will against opponents. The Rino’s already had a tie and a loss and were now hungry for a win. We were out early in the pouring rain at confederation turf warming up and getting seized up to fire on all cylinders against a team that had been doing just that.
The first 15 minutes of the game were controlled by the Rinos, as our new striker, Etienne, reeked havoc amongst their backline with his size, speed and skill. Haydn’s twist on the 4-4-2 was working perfectly and it seemed like we were going to reap the rewards of our hard work when we got a free kick from about 24 yards out. Juan stepped up and bent it like beckham, but sailed it just past a diving goalie and nicked the post on its way out of bounds.
Soon the tables were turned when Norvan had a free kick for themselves from 25 yards out. Their striker got lucky, like the Irish, and his huge rainbow kick found the pot of gold in the top corner of our net. This goal didn’t deflate the Rino’s as we fought back even harder for the next 60 minutes, holding Norvan to a 1-0 game, heading into the last 10 minutes.
Feeling the pressure to score and the need to win, the Rino’s started pushing themselves harder and left it all on the field. We pushed up for every ball, playing an all-out attack game for all the marbles. This is when Norvan took advantage, catching us on our heels on their counter-attack, they went coast to coast to ripple the mesh on our side of the field.
Unfortunately, along with the loss, Jonah suffered a mild concussion when Brent decked a Norvan player who slammed into Jonah, using him to cushion his fall. Davis also nearly suffered a concussion when his dome came in the way of another shot smashed by Juan that could have been the TSN turning point of this game!
The highlight reel of the game was hogged by our goalie, Anthony Bayer, who made some mind-blasting saves on a couple break-aways. David snuck into the honour roll list by ripping a knuckle-ball shot in the last few minutes that came close to beating the goalie, but unfortunately it only resulted in a rebound and a lost opportunity.
Currently, the 21s stand at 0-2-1 and play a must win game this Friday night at point grey! With the amount of built up anger, frustration and energy, the Rinos smell blood and plan to rip apart the “ICSF Inter” when we turn on the flood lights at our turf on Friday night!