“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day”. We all remember that depressing chime from when we were younger. Hoping that the gods above us will hear our sad little voices and we’d be able to go outside and enjoy the pleasures of childhood. The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team continues to sing the blues. Their second half collapse at McGill Percival Stadium has been the chorus for what is the 2006 men’s soccer season. Rain clouds have been forming since the season took flight and they haven’t passed them by. Winless in all 10 games they’ve played this season, Sunday’s loss to McGill brought the Stinger’s record to an abysmal 0-7-3.
“It takes commitment, but unfortunately, we just don’t have it,” said Coach Vladimir Pavlichik. “I’m disappointed, but three goals in ten minutes will break anyone’s back.”
McGill opened the scoring in the 2nd minute when the Redmen’s Olivier Brett scored on a free kick in the Stinger’s zone. Shocked by the early goal, the Stingers did not lose focus as they took it to the opposition, hoping to tie it up. After crashing the McGill zone on a number of occasions, Concordia’s persistence paid off in the 28th minute as Bryan Bourbonnais’ free kick sailed into the six-yard box and was blasted in by Jason Quinn. A couple of heart-stopping moments followed afterwards including a penalty shot attempt for the Redmen in the 39th minute. McGill’s James Scholefield’s attempt was batted away by a sprawling Daniel De Palma as he kept the game tied at one going into halftime.
Going into the second half knotted at one, it looked as if the Stingers would steal one on the road and earn their first victory of the season. After tying first place Montreal at Loyola field on Friday, it seemed as if Concordia had the momentum going into this game. Unfortunately, the Dr. Jeckyl, Mr. Hyde act the Stingers have been playing all season long revealed itself and McGill’s crimson tide took full advantage.
Scholefield’s harmless cross into the Concordia zone was re-directed by Stingers defenceman Amine Ait-Ouazzon and found its way to the back of the net in the 47th minute. The Stingers couldn’t regroup and just one minute after Scholefield’s goal, McGill’s Sam Lindauer took advantage of the stunned Stinger defence and ripped one by De Palma. Finally, to end the Redmen onslaught, Scholefield bypassed two defencemen and sent the ball into the bottom right-hand corner in the 55th minute bringing the score to 4-1 in favour of the Redmen.
Concordia’s performance in the second half left everyone in shock. Their coaches and supporters were left wondering what led the Stingers to such an underachieving outing after so much promise in the previous three halves. Ironically, the Stingers style of play and their unique style of gelling as a team were as poor as the weather Sunday evening.
“Our heart was in that game, unfortunately they got the lucky bounces,” said Jason Quinn, whom was irritated by the same results that his team has been faced with all season long. When asked if “frustrating” was the one word that best defined the 2006 season Quinn responded, “If I could sum it up in one word, yes! The results are not good, and it’s the same thing every game. I’m just tired of telling you the same thing after every loss.”
Concordia will close out the 2006 campaign as they will travel to Trois-Rivi
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