SAULT STE MARIE – It's a long drive up to the Soo. But the Guelph Gryphons men's soccer team will feel good about the trek on the way home Sunday night. Guelph capped off the weekend with a one-sided 7-0 win over the Algoma Thunderbirds.
The Gryphons improve to 6-1-1 after taking both matches at Algoma this weekend by a combined score of 11-1.
"We played very well today," said coach Gryphons' coach
Keith Mason. "It's always difficult playing a team for the second straight day and the boys were very professional in how they handled it."
Jace Kotsopoulos had two goals, to bring his OUA-leading total to 10.
Mitchell Lefebvre also scored twice, with
Youssef Zaghloul,
Atchu Siva and
Marko Vidovich adding the other goals for Guelph.
Zaghloul and Kotsopoulos were in sync all afternoon and featured in the first three goals of the match. Zaghloul scored the opener about 15 minutes in on a nice set up by Kotsopoulos, the third-year striker from Burlington, ON. Zaghloul reciprocated on the next goal, sending a perfect through ball to Kotsopoulos, who as usual, calmly slotted home when left one-on-one with the Algoma goalkeeper.
Kotsopoulos made it 3-0 in the first half when he side-footed a nice feed from Zaghloul into the back of the net.
"They were a dynamic duo today," said Mason. "They really played off of each other well."
Mason was pleased to see Vidovich get his first goal as a Gryphon. With Guelph up comfortably, the midfielder from Oakville, ON sent a big cross in from the left wing that sailed past everyone in the area and into the Thunderbirds' net.
Second-year goalkeeper
Simon Norgrove played the first half and was spelled in the second by rookie
Ryan Collins.
The Gryphons had 36 shot attempts, with 13 hitting the target. Guelph leads the OUA West with 25 goals scored.
"The most important we took away from this weekend was seeing the character of the guys," said Mason. "They did what they had to do.
"We brought 23 players with us and they all played."
Guelph hosts the York Lions Wednesday, Sept. 20 at the Gryphon Soccer Complex. The match begins at 12:30 pm.
