Mark my words; the Dinos men’s soccer season will be as wacky as Michael Jackson’s monkey on three teaspoons of LSD.
“When you start four or five rookies a game you’re in for an interesting time,” reflected Head Coach Andy Gibbs after his troops opened the season with an inspired 2-0 result, followed by a 3-1 beating the next day. “It shows we have a long way to go.”
The Dinos began the 2002 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 14, and whipped the dull Saskatchewan Huskies thanks to goals from veterans Brian Newmarch and Jon Remmer. Midfielder Luis Morales set up both goals, and terrorized confused defenders all day long.
The next day, it was the Dinos who looked confused. Eric Pinnell scored just 30 seconds into the game (he proceeded to chirp for the rest of the match), thanks to a brilliant run by Mark Korthuis. Remmer tied the game with a header five minutes before halftime, but Korthuis found the back of the net for Alberta in the 70th minute and the Dinos unraveled.
“We tied it up and we got sat on,” said Remmer. “We didn’t go direct at their goal. It looked like they wanted that game more than we did.”
Ten minutes after Korthuis’ goal, Dinos keeper Doug Bourne made a spectacular error. He first miskicked the ball on a
failed clearence attempt, and then punched the ball into his own net while trying to recover. This would have killed momentum had the Dinos had any, instead it just put Calgary out of their misery.
“We wanted to get one win out of this weekend,” mused Remmer.
If that’s the case, the weekend was a success.
The Dinos’ next challenge is a trip to British Columbia, to take on Trinity Western, Victoria and the University of British Columbia. In the distant past, this trip signalled a Dinos beat down. However, in the recent couple of seasons the Dinos came back from the coast with mixed results, a success in the murderous Canada West Conference.
G-G-G-Goal Notes
Midfielder Matt Houston, who doubles as the most popular man on campus, will return from rib injury for the three-game swing on the coast.
Dinos defender Colin Smith was sporting a mohawk for the season’s first game. Dinos women’s midfielder Jessica Horning was impressed by the mohawk.
“I love it,” she enthused. “It’s great.”
Thus far, the Tigers faction leads the Dinos in scoring with three goals. Jon
Remmer has two, and Brian Newmarch has one. La Familia’s Luis Morales set up two goals against Saskatchewan, but as usual, it is the Tigers who get the glory.