On Wednesday, October 8th the CSAA hosted its annual Alumni vs. Varsity match for the much bragged about Super Cup Trophy. The Alumni were looking to continue their winning streak under Coach Hoefler as they had won the trophy two years in a row.
It was a cold, windy and rainy evening – meaning the soccer gods were smiling on us as it was perfect Carleton Soccer weather! Alumni started off with a strong and pretty young starting 11.
Stevie Ball got the call in nets to bring some flare and the age gap up!
Back four were: Legakis, Da Costa, Loney & Vicossi.
The CSAA also started with a strong midfield contingent of: Joey Kewin, Mintchev, Pano, Jorge Guitierrez, & Park
Andrew Latty was our lone striker as we were trying out a new formation (4-5-1)
The game started mostly in the Alumni half with all of Stevie’s first touches being his typical cheeky dangles and the boys trying to play like Barcelona with the “ticki-tacki” out of their own end. It took a little while to get the rust off and Varsity went up with an easy tap in from Marco Pozzi. Alumni regained much of the possession and then tied it up on an epic Joey Kewin 90 yard run and finish to tie it at 1-1 (Pano with the nice assist).
All of the Alumni lads came in and made an impact with the inclusion of: Ryan Beckford, Danny Gutierrez, Justin Campos, Alex AZ Zaslavsky, and Alic Edgar. Varsity went on to take the lead before half with a blast from about 30 yards from Walker Smith. The goal came about from a corner kick as keeper Stevie was caught in Abu Dhabi leaving the middle of the net open for Smith to capitalize on.
Half time was brief with a quick pep-talk from the Alumni coaching staff: Danny Obaseki, Dimitri Koutras, Kriss Brauns, Stefano Vieira, Mark Krocko, & lead gaffer Mike Hoefler. Whatever was said must have been inspiring as Alumni came out on fire in the second half and scored two goals in two minutes both coming from Andrew Latty – Alumni up 3-2!
Ian Rosso would get the call in nets to start the second half with much of the starting lineup going back in to get a strong start to the half. The hard tackles were present all match with Alumni obviously putting themselves about, Jorge sliding at anything that moved including Ref Chris Alain! Varsity got a lucky deflection late in the second half to tie the match at 3-3 with 15 minutes left to play. With only around 5 minutes left Joey Kewin took the bull by the horns and showed why he was a five time all-star during his much celebrated Ravens career. Joey stole the ball on the left wing, deeked 4-5 players out and “released the Cracken” scoring a beauty with his right foot from well outside the 18 yard box to put Alumni up 4-3! Varsity pressed to even up the match and came very close at the end with Walker Smith hitting both the cross bar and post. Ian Rosso made some big saves but the biggest save of all came in the final seconds with Mintchev his Bulgarian Ballet to save a shot off of the line.
With hard tackles taking place all over the pitch, and some animosity brewing a dangerous tackle from behind by a Varsity player brought some extra flare to the late stages of the match as that foul was returned with a swift no nonsense fist to the nether area (Park). Coach Mackie quickly responded to the incident with another classic quotable stating “you can take them out of Carleton, but you can’t take the Carleton out of the player”. Many on the touch line commented that thankfully “Crazy” Willy Murray wasn’t at the match as his method of resolving both legal and footie matters are feared throughout the Ottawa region!!
Shout-out to Stevie and Rosso for some solid performances between the pipes and a shout to Pano for holding it down in the middle and playing a strong 90 minutes.
All in all it was a great back and forth match with Alumni taking the victory and claiming their 4th Super Cup in 5 years! The new lower-pitch was beautiful and thanks to all of those who made it out to play and support both squads.
Post-Match Celebration:
The post-match traditions are sometimes just as fun as the match itself! The Alumni gathered together in the new ice house change room to chat and laugh about the match and share a few pops and celebrate victory! The evening closed out with Alumni and Varsity getting together with the rest of the coaching staff for some well-deserved Pizza and pops. After much deliberation, the Super Cup MVP was given to Alumni Rookie Joey Kewin – who made his debut this year and is surely to feature in many Super Cup matches moving forward!! The MVP for Varsity also went to a first time Super Cup player – Braden “The Bully” MacKay.
Sandy Mackie presented the Super Cup to Alumni Captain Stevie Ball along with a few words from both Sandy and Stevie. Afterwards more pops arrived and everyone stuck around to share good ole Carleton stories for a few more hours.
It was a great night and a fantastic turnout! We want to thank all of the Alumni who participated and those who made it out to support. The Alumni vs. Varsity Super Cup is always a match to look forward to and this years did not disappoint! The tackling and chirping were epic and we are already planning ahead to next year!
Thank you to Sandy, Varsity, and the Carleton University Alumni Association for helping to organize the match and support the post-match gathering. Best of luck to the lads as they close out the regular season – let`s make play-offs and make a run at it!!!!!
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