KINGSTON, Ont. - The St. Lawrence College (SLC) men's soccer team faced the Coyotes from La Cite Collegiale on Saturday, Sept. 14, in the Vikings home opener of the 2013-14 OCAA regular season.
Vikings head coach Steve Douglas was looking for a bounce back game from his squad, after falling 0-4 to Durham College in the season opener.
"We worked hard in practice this week, trying some new things with our recruits, and it really paid off for us," said Douglas.
The hard work and dedication in practice did have an effect on the players, as the Vikings would play an excellent game from start to finish, earning a 4-1 victory, and evening their record to 1-1.
Right from the start, the SLC players created several scoring opportunities for one another, with team veteran Matt Scrutton sending a beautiful cross pass for Gabe Jones, who made no mistake in shooting to the far side of the net, to go up 1-0 in the fifth minute of play.
La Cite would respond quickly with a goal of their own in the ninth minute. The teams would trade several scoring opportunities in the half, but remain tied going into the final 45 minutes of play.
St. Lawrence would come very close to going up by one, early in the second half. Including one play that caught the Coyotes goalie out of position, but was saved by his teammate, who headed the ball off the goal line.
It wasn't until the 72nd minute where once again Jones, would find himself in a perfect position to put his team ahead. Jones would score his third goal of the match in the 78th minute to make the score 3-1.
Scrutton would be rewarded for his strong play during the match, as he was given a penalty kick after being tackled in the box. Scrutton would make no mistake, securing the Vikings 4-1 win.
"We recognized that Gabe really worked on his conditioning during the offseason, and it was not something we fully utilized in our game against Durham. Tonight it paid off for him, as he finished on the opportunities he was given," said Douglas.
The Vikings travel to Toronto on Friday, Sept. 20 for their next game, as they take on the Seneca College Sting. Game time is 4:30 p.m.
Source: St. Lawrence College