GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's soccer team is usually good for at least a couple of goals per match. But there were a lot more to go around the past two days. The No. 7 Gryphons were all business in a 5-1 win over the Algoma Thunderbirds, sweeping a weekend doubleheader at the Gryphon Soccer Complex.
Jace Kotsopoulos and
Mitchell Lefebvre had a brace each, with rookie
Luka Tadic scoring the first goal of his Gryphon career. Guelph, winners of five straight, finished the weekend with nine goals to bring the season tally to 25, tops in the OUA West.
While the Gryphons showed some offensive flair this weekend, it was the Thunderbirds who jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal from midfielder Mohammed Alqarni in the 19
th minute. It was one of Algoma's only significant attacks and the hosts paid for the defensive lapse.
It took a while for the Gryphons to finally get a breakthrough but it eventually came late in the first half. Tadic was able to score his first ever OUA goal off a scramble near the top of the area, which proved critical to getting the hosts back on track.
Kotsopoulous took over from there, scoring his U SPORTS-leading 11
th and 12
th goals of the season within minutes of each other shortly after the restart. Lefebvre took a powerful shot from outside the area and Kotsopoulos was there to deposit a rebound behind Algoma keeper Kevin Picard in the 48
th minute. And then in the 50
th minute, he struck from distance. That gives the fourth-year former All-Canadian 52 in his Guelph career.
Lefebvre was a danger all game and the third-year forward showed off his offensive talents with a goal in the 54
th minute before closing out the scoring in the 82
nd minute.
Turning point
Guelph seemed to have righted the ship when Tadic scored the all-important equalizer but Kotsopoulos put the match away with his two goals so close together. For an Algoma side that wasn't being too adventurous, the 3-1 deficit was a mountain to climb.
Gryphon Take
"The boys responded well and stayed patient. Algoma kept everybody back and tried to make it hard for us. We kept probing away and we always knew the goals were going to come. Once one went in, it was just a matter of the floodgates opening and that's exactly what happened."
"Luka is one of our top recruits. His whole contribution to that game was a good one and showed why we like him. There were a lot of positives to take with the biggest positive being three more points."–
head coach Keith Mason
The Record
Guelph is 6-1-1.
Next up
@ Waterloo, Sunday, Sept. 23, 3:15 pm
