Comeback Queens

> Royals never give up

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

I the cramped PACWEST
soccer season, an eight-

day break should always be

a blessing. But all too many
times, I find that eight days

off is a curse. It hurts the team
rather than helps it, as rust and
complacency sets in. For the
Royals, coming out of their eight-
day break by playing the Blues,
that is exactly what happened at
the start of the game.

The team began the game
playing fast and aggressively, but
as the first half went on, they
found themselves less sharp than
the Blues. Pressured by their
Capilano opponents, the Royals
pulled inwards and held on,
hoping to take a tie to half time.
Their hopes would be dashed
after surrendering a corner kick
to the Blues near the end of
the first quarter. The Blues are
a team that is known for their
set piece proficiency, and they
showed it off by delivering a
perfect corner kick into the head
of one of their players for the
beautiful header that gave the
Royals no chance of stopping it.

Surrendering a goal going
into half time is never a position
that any team wants to be in. It
changes the dynamic of how the
coach addresses the team, and
changes the mood. Sometimes,
that change can be for the better,
other times, it’s for the worse.
This time, it would seem that the
talk worked. The Royals came
out reinvigorated, and with new
life to their moves. They pushed
back the Blues, contained them,
and punished them for their
mistakes. The game equalizer
was inevitable, and the Royals
found theirs on a similar corner
situation. Andrea Perrotta
delivered a wonderful curving
kick that met the head of first-
year midfielder Madison Hendry,
who drove the ball into the net
for the tying goal.

With time running down,
many teams would be satisfied
with the tie. But the Royals
wanted the win, and they
pushed hard for it. They found
multiple chances, including a
free kick from near unmissable
range, but couldn't convert on
any of them, due in part to the
Blues’ goalkeeping. The game
ran down to the wire, with the
Royals controlling most of the

Women's soccer preview:

> Fight for first

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

UNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

Well actually, all weekend!
The Royals are in high spirits
after their win against the
Capilano Blues, and they will
need to maintain that going
into the weekend, as they take
on the Langara Falcons in a
double-header for, essentially, the
PACWEST crown. They play the
league-leading Falcons at their
home on Saturday, before coming
home and hosting the Falcons on
Sunday.

Langara will be coming in off
a nice seven-day break, having
last played the Quest Kermodes
last Saturday. That game
resulted in a 3-1 Falcons win, as
they swept aside the last place
Kermodes with relative ease.

On the other side, the Royals
will be coming in hot as well.
Finishing off a comeback win
over the Capilano Blues, the team
is looking strong going into their
rivalry matchup. With nerves
flying everywhere, the Royals
coaching staff will need to focus
the team’s extra energy into a
productive means. As thrilling as
the comeback win over Capilano
was, the team only had to make

a comeback because they started
the game flatfooted.

It’s hard to say what will
happen if they do that against
the league leaders, but it’s safe to
say it won't go unpunished. The
last time the two teams met, it
was the beginning of both team’s
PACWEST season. The Royals
made a mistake, and the Falcons
capitalized on it, giving them the
game winning goal. Otherwise,
both teams would have certainly
tied.

But the competitive
PACWEST landscape has
changed since, and now the
Falcons find themselves flying
high and confident. However,
their confidence just might be
a little lower going into week
five’s matches. Yes, they won
their one match last week, but
in week three, the week before,
the team was delivered their
first loss in the form of a shutout
from the VIU Mariners. While
the Mariners are a good team,
the win was just their second
of the season. It showed some
of the Falcons’ flaws, and more
importantly, showed that, yes,
those birds can be clipped.

Perhaps overconfidence is
the answer to the Royals’ wishes.
Overconfidence leads to the
downfall of many teams. Why,

chances, and smothering those
that they couldn't contain. In the
end, it would be Andrea Perrotta
coming up huge once again.
After receiving a wonderful

pass from her teammate, she
managed to get a shot past the
defenders, and place the shot
exactly where she wanted it. The
goal came in injury time, and
gave the Blues little to no time

to respond. Although they got a
decent chance, the Blues failed to
convert on a do or die corner, and
the Royals would kick the ball
out to end the game.

Nail-biter games such as
those are never good for the head
coach’s heart rate, but make for
the most exciting fan games.
After the game, Chris Laxton
talked about his thoughts on his
team’s win:

“At half-time, we challenged
the team to be better. We were
quite stern with them. We could
play much better than we did
in the first half, considering
they had played the day before.
We needed to be better and we
showed that. We were clearly
the better team in the second
half and deserved the goals. It
was nice to see the players being
rewarded for their hard work.”

October 8-9

just last week, an overconfident
Capilano Blues squad saw their
lead flubbed and the tie smashed
by the hungry Royals team. That
hunger will need to drive the
team this coming weekend, as
they’ll need whatever energy they
can muster and more to take on
the Falcons.

I really can’t say how many
points the team will walk away
with this weekend. I want to say
the minimum is two, but both
teams are so equally powerful
that it wouldn’t surprise me if
the Royals walked away with
zero. Of course, the goal is 6
points, which would give them a
12 point differential against the
Falcons, as this is the last time
this season the two teams are
playing each other. If the Royals
manage to win both games,
they can take their spot on top
of the PACWEST standings
and have a very good shot at
fighting for the title. Should they
lose both games, it would be
mathematically impossible for
them to catch the Falcons, who
all but secure their hands ona
league win.

Either way, it will be a
thriller. Come out and watch
the Royals take on the Langara
Falcons at Cunnings Park on
Sunday, at 12 p.m. sharp.

 

Photo by Davie Wong

  

Photo by Davie Wong