Thanks go out to all of the alumni that participated and helped make this weekend a huge success!! We had a great turnout with Alumni coming from Toronto, Montreal, and Madrid Spain via New York! We hope that everyone had a great weekend and are looking forward to the Varsity season kicking off this fall.
The Veterans started off the tournament with a narrow 0-0 tie to a young and very fast U17 Ottawa Fury team. While they almost went down 1-0 in the first play of the game they came back strong and just missed opportunities to take the lead. The second game was not as close as the Alumni lost to a team kitted up in Germany gear 4-0. The first match Saturday was a physical battle against Ottawa U and saw Alumni just miss the chance to take the lead as the ball bounced off the cross bar. The Alumni won a free kick in the last minute of play but decided to play “tika taka” and Ottawa U stole the ball and had a one on one breakaway from half. Mintcho made a heroic effort to track the player down and a controversial penalty was awarded as the buzzer sounded to end the match. Massive confusion followed as players entered the field of play to celebrate a tie, but controversial referee Chris Alain referred back to NBA rules and noted that the foul was given before the buzzer had sounded. Ottawa U would convert the penalty in extra time and won the match 1-0. The final match for the veteran alumni was against Queens Alumni in which “Croatian Sensation” Brian Rogic gave Carleton the big 1-0 win in the dying seconds of the match!! This was also the Veteran Alumni’s first and only goal of the tournament! Shout Out to AZ in his last minute antics & yellow card. All in all the Veteran Alumni had a great time and special thanks go to Mintcho Mintchev and Tobi for playing with the vets – and John Legakis in making his debut with the old boys! (It was this Ottawa U team that went on to win the tournament! – Shocking!)
*Missing from photo: Kwesi Loney, Igor Plenchtchenko, Jeff Knight, Basil Phillips, Marc Lapointe, “Kill Him” Will Murray
*Great to see Alumni Fan Support from: Kriss Brauns, Gordie McDonald, Gabe Maniero – and the Oba Twins!
Carleton Alumni 2: Young Guns:
The young lads started off versus La Cite College and although it took them a while to get into the match they finished 1-0 with a classy finish from Justin “Juice” Campos. The game later that night was versus a local Capital United side. It must have been the late night or the pre-game liquids at a near bye hotel as Younger Alumni looked a little disinterested for the most part. Regardless they ended with a 0-0 tie which was a bit disappointing but a point nonetheless. The following morning Carleton faced St. Lawrence College. Carleton almost started 3 men short as the Mexican contingent was still conversing and fixing their hair in the change room at game time. The stall tactics were put in place and finally the game was underway. Sadly I think the young lads were still sleeping as they shockingly lost the match 2-1. The next match was highly anticipated as it was the young gunner alumni versus Varsity! After a deserved pizza lunch and beverages the match was underway and this match was worth the anticipation and was the match of the tournament. Both teams were going hard and the physical play would make the old hard men of Carleton wince and smirk. It was a back and forth affair with an inspired Pano driving the Young Alumni. Dee_Bank, fresh off the bus from Bay Street, Toronto, jumped into the match with minutes remaining to put Carleton up 1-0 and advance the team to the Semi-Final Sunday afternoon – which was both good news/bad news for the lads!! Sunday morning was already going to be a struggle knowing in advance that they would be missing Joey Kewin (work), and all 3 Gutti’s brothers (Danny, Jorge, & Roberto) due to a family Mexican fiesta. That being said the boys who showed up gave their all and they had to pull Mike “Höf Daddy” Hoefler from the crowd to go in nets due to the absence of their keeper. The boys battled on but lost 3-1 due mostly to the cob webs of Saturday night. Shout out to Javier who was a wall in the back all weekend – despite not having proper boots!
*Missing from photo: Justin Campos
Pizza Lunch:
Thanks go out to Mike Hoefler and Big Travis and Reynolds from the Varsity Squad for helping to setup the room for the Pizza Lunch. The Pizza went quick and although beverages were originally intended for after the last match of the tournament they were put to good use!
A special thank you to Joey Kewin for putting together such a kind schedule for the Alumni teams and thanks to all the Varsity players who helped organize and run the tournament.
Pub Saturday Night
The pub night is always a highlight of the tournament and this year was especially fantastic! We had great turnout for the pub night and the pub staff were great as usual. Great to see all the women Alumni join the festivities and other Men’s Alumni who were present for the pub night: Declan Bonnar & even Davy McFall make a “polkaroo” like appearance.
We hope you all had a great and memorable weekend!
Again – A Huge Thanks to all those who participated – the events are only successful dependant on having active Alumni Members! We look forward to having everyone again next year and hope everyone enjoyed themselves!
This tournament typically wraps up the year as there is a break in events over the summer months. We are all looking forward to a new season and the year ahead!
Jobbie On!
CSAA Exec.
Leave A Comment