GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's soccer team has a ruthless streak in them. It just hasn't surfaced early in the 2018 OUA season. Until Sunday afternoon, that is. Fourth-year striker
Jace Kotsopoulos scored twice to help Guelph produce a one-sided 4-0 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks in front of a big crowd at the Gryphon Soccer Complex.
Head coach Keith Mason felt like his side has squandered points in the opening two weeks of the season but he was happy to see Guelph deliver on their promise, particularly in the final third of the pitch. The Gryphons scored early when
Johnson Amoo struck in the ninth minute, opening the floodgates. Kotsopoulos would add his fourth of the young season moments before the half and then tallied again with a spot kick just after the break.
The finely-tuned Guelph attack capped off the day well when
Atchu Siva headed home an excellent ball from
Mitchell Lefebvre in the 53
rd minute. At the other end of the pitch, the defenders did their job. Laurier was held without an attempt on goal for the full 90 minutes, earning goalkeeper
Ryan Collins a simple clean sheet.
Turning point
Guelph got the jump on Laurier with Amoo's early strike, though Laurier had plenty of time to respond. It was evident the visitors wouldn't have many opportunities and when Kotsopoulos netted his first of two, at a critical moment right before the half-time whistle, the points were all but in the bag.
Gryphon Take
"I asked before the game that we clean up a little bit in both boxes. We've created a lot of chances and haven't put teams away. But today we did. We scored in open play, three goals where we haven't been doing it this year. The guys responded to that very well. And I asked them to be a bit more assured for 90 minutes in our own box. We've defended very well (in the Western and York games), a couple of mad moments and we end up getting one point out of six when we really should have gotten six out of six. They were the two areas I asked them to improve on. It was a good day at the office." –
head coach Keith Mason
The Record
Guelph is 2-1-1.
Next up
@ Brock, Saturday, Sept. 8, 3:15 pm