SASKATOON, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Huskies men's soccer team earned their first win of the 2024 season Sunday afternoon (Sept. 1) at Griffiths Stadium, taking down the MacEwan Griffins 3-0. With the win, the Huskies improve to 1-3-0 through the first two weeks of the season, while the Griffins fall to 0-2-0.
It was a strong start for the Huskies, who controlled play in the opening minutes of the match.
In the 18th minute the Saskatchewan pressure paid off after a great takeaway by third-year fullback
Aydin Wiebe sprung
Daler Tokhirov free up the wing. Tokhirov sent a centering pass from the endline to
Ethan Cabral who would give the dogs their first lead of the season.
For Cabral, the strike marked his second goal of the campaign and sixth of his career in green & white. Meanwhile, Tokhirov picked up the first of his two points in Sunday's match on the score.
The game's first score saw both teams pick up the pace of play and less than 10 minutes later, the Griffins saw their best chance of the afternoon.
MacEwan's Ali Yildiz received a centering pass in the goal area and sent a backwards shot that forced Saskatchewan goalkeeper,
Jaron Slopinski to make an acrobatic save to keep the dogs ahead.
Slopinski finished the game with just two shots on goal faced, both of which the third-year keeper turned aside. The product of Regina earned the fifth clean sheet of his career in the win.
Entering the second half with the lead, the Huskies continued to press the attack looking to solidify a return to the win column.
Six minutes into the half,
Daler Tokhirov was back at it, this time finding second year striker
Robert Woodroffe-Brown for a beautiful header which beat Griffin's keeper Oleksander Popravka.
Just as play settled down late in the match, goalkeeper
Jaron Slopinski sent a booming kick down field to
Misgana Killoh who found veteran midfielder
Robert Mackay for the third goal of the afternoon.
The Huskies and Griffins trade places in the Canada West standings following Sunday's 3-0 win. The Dogs now sit in 5th, while MacEwan drops to 6th in the Prairie Division standings.
STATS
Three different Huskies found the back of the net, while
Daler Tokhirov picked up two points after assisting back-to-back scores.
UP NEXT
The Huskies head back on the road, traveling to Lethbridge to take on the Pronghorns on Saturday, September 7, 2024.
