Coming off of a big loss to UBC, and sliding down the rankings, the Rinos needed a big win to cement their position within the league. It was about time we started playing at the level expected of us and it was about time we started doing our job!
Haydn’s motivational speech started a night that would be the TSN turning point for this team, this season, with 6 simple words that hit home, ” Are you ****ing ready to win?” This coming from a coach who was the epitome of composure, who never yelled or even raised his voice, was enough to let us know that he had had enough of our shitty soccer, and that it was time for us to either go big or go home!
The match started and the Rinos immediately took their game to another level. Each and every one of our players hustled for every ball, won every 50/50 ball, won every ball in the air and they punished the other team for ever touching the ball. Our blitzkrieg style of soccer stunned KLM and it took them awhile to get their feet under them. The Rinos were playing tough, fast and most importantly, we were playing smart; we started spreading the ball around and played a calm, controlled game.
The first goal came in the first half off of a huge hustle play. David went up mono-e-mono against one of KLM’s midfielders and won the battle, and secured the ball. Then without thinking he pinged the ball across to Etienne who did the rest. Etienne, at a full sprint, controlled the ball and drew 4 KLM defenders. Just as they were about to collapse on him, Etienne looked across and found a lonely John standing at the opposite corner of the 18 yard box. Once John touched the ball, he wasted little time beating the keeper by sniping it into the bottom left corner of the goal. The mesh rippled, the crowd roared, the scoreboard churned, but most importantly, in these past 20 seconds, Haydn got a glimpse of the brilliance that he knew he was responsible for.
The 1st half ended at 1-0, but the game was far from over. The end of the first half almost saw a changing of guard for the Rino Defense; for the rest of the game, the Rinos would have to play without their Captain, Dhiren. His departure left a big hole in the defense and the Rinos would now have to fill that and protect their lead at the same time. And by god, they did exactly that and more!
Max stepped in at sweeper, Petros came in at stopper and with John and Jeff flanking them they stepped up and initiated their lock-down! They stopped every KLM advance and allowed the rest of our team to play aggressive and with a confidence, knowing that their defense would protect them from any mistakes.
In the second half the Rinos opened up a one/two touch clinic and admission was free! We started showing off what we were learning at practice and our hard work was finally paying off. These string of passes set up many offensive movements and produced legitimate chances for our offensive to make the KLM defense look like a sieve.
John was on fire tonight, and netted his second goal of the game, and the season, midway through the second half and was set up by James.
Hustle was the theme of this game and our third goal was set up by nothing but hustle. Jonah started the play by putting up a threw ball for David who, at a full sprint, laid himself out to cross the ball into the box and found goal hhungry Juan waiting for a tap in goal at the 6.
Another highlight of the game was Anthony’s save on a penalty kick, that was given up towards the end of the game. Had KLM scored here, they would’ve been right back in the game, but Anthony would not have any of that! He honed in on the ball and rejected it like a hot girl rejecting a nerd. TRIVIA fans: Anthony is 2-0 on penalty kicks this season……even Jeff Thom doesn’t boast those kind of numbers 😉
In the end, these young Rinos finally grew up, and without their Captain they led each other to their 2nd win of their season. I guess they showed us that they do have the mental toughness and concentration to overcome adversity, and to just do their job! These are the kind of players that great teams are made off and these guys are just 18…..this league is going to get nasty surprise over these next 3 years!