Photo by Morris Prokop
INTENSITY 鈥 RDFC鈥檚 Lars Jessup, Timbits鈥 Alvarinho Diaz Vega and Timbits鈥 keeper Milo Schosser (left to right) watch the ball during the bronze medal 91社区破解版 Futsal Men鈥檚 League match last Wednesday.
Photo by Morris Prokop
INTENSITY 鈥 RDFC鈥檚 Lars Jessup, Timbits鈥 Alvarinho Diaz Vega and Timbits鈥 keeper Milo Schosser (left to right) watch the ball during the bronze medal 91社区破解版 Futsal Men鈥檚 League match last Wednesday.
Photo by Morris Prokop
BALL BATTLE 鈥 91社区破解版 Experts captain Ben Warburton, left, and North 60鈥檚 Samuel Lee go after the ball.
Photo by Morris Prokop
UP FOR GRABS 鈥 North 60 keeper Tristan Martin leaps for the ball.
Photo by Morris Prokop
COLLISION 鈥 RDFC鈥檚 captain Marten Sealy collides with Timbits鈥 Kaden Gregory. Timbits鈥 Evan Howells, left and Kyan Morrison watch the action.
91社区破解版 Experts are the 2023-24 91社区破解版 Futsal Men鈥檚 League champions.
91社区破解版 Experts are the 2023-24 91社区破解版 Futsal Men鈥檚 League champions.
The new futsal champions claimed a surprisingly easy 7-3 victory over regular season champs North 60 Wednesday at the Canada Games Centre in 91社区破解版.
Gabe Mahamed led the way for the Experts with a hat trick, including one on a penalty kick.
Captain Ben Warburton added a brace (two goals).
Juan Pablo Herrara and Etnik Tarakaj chipped in with singles.
91社区破解版 Experts led 2-0 at the half before the floodgates opened early in the second half.
Domagoj Pehar, Marek Boulerice and Ehab Alhag Hussen replied for North 60, who were down 6-0 early in the second half before a late rally.
Warburton said it was a 鈥渞eally tough game. We had a tough start to the season, had a lot of changes in our squad. We were bottom of the league for 80 per cent of it but come the last half, we started to get our squad together, went back to 100 per cent and started picking up wins and had form at the right time.鈥
When asked the key to the victory, Warburton replied, 鈥淭he intensity. And the press. They finished top of the league, we finished third, but we beat them more times than they beat us. And it was just because of how we played. Intensity from start to finish. Everybody put in a 100 per cent effort and it worked out.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 probably the best football we鈥檝e played. I鈥檇 say we controlled 90 per cent of the game, scored some really good goals and the energy 鈥 you could tell from the bench that everyone was willing to go and give it all.鈥
Warburton was expecting a much closer game.
鈥淚 said before either team is probably going to win 3-2. I knew if we got the lead, we have the players to keep the shape and press them and hit them on the counter (attack).
鈥淚t was quite the dominant performance, to be fair.鈥
North 60 captain Craig Caldwell agreed.
鈥淭he best team definitely won the day. They wanted it more, they pressed really hard.
鈥淲e should have played the way we did the last 15 minutes the whole game and we might have gotten a result.
鈥淲e made some silly defensive passes between our guys at the back when we knew they were going to be right on top of us, so we played into their hands a little bit.鈥
Caldwell said his three-time defending champs didn鈥檛 target the 91社区破解版 Experts goalkeeper as much as they should have.
鈥淥nce we put pressure on him, he was making mistakes. We didn鈥檛 test him enough. First half especially. At halftime, we didn鈥檛 have one shot on goal.鈥
Caldwell said the new champions were full value for their victory.
鈥淭hey got better from the first game to the last game of the season. They were definitely always on an incline.鈥
In the bronze medal match, after leading 2-0 at the half, RDFC took a 3-0 lead over Timbits, who made it closer on a goal by Alvarinho Diaz Vega with three minutes left in the match.
Timbits鈥 Travis Banks said, 鈥淚t was a good game. It was really close. Our team definitely had a lot of pressure and their goalie made a couple really important saves. We couldn鈥檛 find the back of the net and the other team found a couple early and I think that put our team off our game a bit, but it was really fun. It was a good pace and a friendly group of guys.
鈥淭hey got a quick goal about 30 seconds in and that kind of set the pace of the game. Unfortunately, we were missing a few of our key players, too, so that hurts the team, I think and the morale of the team when some of your stronger players are missing.
鈥淏ut it was good. The boys played really well.鈥
Banks said the squad was pleased with an impressive second-place regular season finish. The younger players on the team are headed to the Arctic Winter Games in Mat-Su/Palmer, Alaska in March.
鈥淔or them to get second place overall, I think, meant a lot to them and hopefully will build a lot of confidence going into Arctics in two weeks.鈥
Banks also had high praise for keeper Milo Schosser, 17.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard playing goalie, especially in a men鈥檚 league when you鈥檙e just a teenager. Goalies are hard to come by and he was there every game and working hard and being a fearless goalie like you need to be.
鈥淗e was probably our MVP of the whole season.鈥
RDFC captain Marten Sealy said, 鈥淚t could have been anyone鈥檚 game.鈥
Sealy identified the key to his side鈥檚 victory.
鈥淒efensively, communicating really well and making sure everybody on the court was part of that defence. Everybody鈥檚 behind the ball and choosing when we break out of that. But really disciplined defence.
鈥淥ur goalkeeper, Michael Hare, has been standing out in every game that he plays in, especially today. Everybody played a really good game.鈥
Sealy said last week鈥檚 semifinals went down to the wire.
鈥淏oth of them were a tie that had to be settled in extra time.鈥
Sealy said it鈥檚 the fifth anniversary of the league.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting to see it this balanced in its fifth year. I think we鈥檙e doing something right in terms of having a well-run league with consistently players showing up every week caring about the results of their games but also having good sportsmanship. I think that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e seen all season long.鈥
North 60 took the regular season title with 29 points (9-4-2).
Timbits was second with 21 points (6-5-3).
Eventual champion 91社区破解版 Experts came in third with 19 (6-8-1).
Sealy鈥檚 RDFC finished fourth with 17 points (5-8-2) but finished the season strong with the bronze medal win.
Despite their regular season record, Sealy said, 鈥淢ost games were by a tight margin. Every game was fun. Every game was competitive.
鈥淲e were coming into the playoffs thinking it was just as much ours as anybody else鈥檚.鈥
Individual awards were as follows:
League MVP: Michael Hare, RDFC
Golden Boot: Harrison Kwok (18 goals), RDFC
Golden Boot runner up #2... Gabe Mahamed (15 goals), 91社区破解版 Experts
Golden Boot runner up #3... Leo Whittaker (12 goals), Timbits
91社区破解版manship: Ernst Xilin Cao, 91社区破解版 Experts
Sealy added a thanks to the City of 91社区破解版 for the facilities, the Yukon Soccer Association for their help, Lumel Studios, who provide all the league鈥檚 trophies and 鈥渆specially our referees.鈥
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