On Tuesday evening, the SFU men’s soccer team grabbed their second win of the season in exciting fashion over the University of Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans with a 4-2 result.
The Clan have shown themselves to be deadly from their set-pieces in recent matches, and just 10 minutes into play they were ahead thanks to Joel Malouf’s headed goal from Alex Rowley’s corner-kick. With momentum in their favour, the men struck again when Magnus Kristensen’s lobbed ball was brought down by Ryan Dhillon outside the opponent’s box, who then laid a simple ball for Jovan Blagojevic to slot home.
Goalkeeper Ivan Hutsulyak made the most of his Clan debut and confidently swept away the rare chances made by the Vulcans in the first half. The Clan kept immense pressure going from all angles and finished the half with 13 shots.
The second half provided more intense resistance from Hawaii-Hilo, but not before the Clan would take their lead to three when Niko Schroettle won a penalty kick that Blagojevic converted from the spot. Immediately after, the Vulcans created clear goal scoring chances, but efforts from Mike Reckmeyer and Jamie Sporcic were shot wide of the Clan goal. Reckmeyer would come back to haunt the Clan with a stunning bicycle kick goal in the 71st minute. With the tide turning, the Vulcan offence were able to build more pressure into the Clan’s 18-yard box and won a penalty kick, scored by Reckmeyer again.
Only two minutes later, the Clan found their fourth goal from a counter attack of blistering pace when Dhillon picked out substitute Callum Powell, who calmly rolled the through ball past the UHH keeper. The Vulcans went out guns blazing until the last minute with their free kick smacking the crossbar to the delight of the home crowd.
“It was more exciting than it should’ve been, we took our foot off the pedal,” said head coach Alan Koch. “They gave us a good run for our money, but thank goodness we weathered the storm and showed maturity.”
The coach added his excitement for freshman Callum Powell: “He’s been chomping at the bit for more playing time and he came in tonight and proved himself. He’s explosive, dynamic, and I hope he can build on that.”
