Kings 4 Kodiaks 0</b.
RDC Kings soccer head coach Steve Fullarton knew to have success in the Alberta Colleges Men’s Soccer League he needed to add a legitimate scorer.
He got just what he needed with the addition of Keegan Sheehan.
Sheehan has always been a solid offensive threat, something that was on full display Saturday when he scored four times to lead the Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.
“I always could score growing up, but I was off for a while, but it’s coming back,” said the 22-year-old Hunting Hills grad, who has been coaching youth soccer and working for the last several years.
“I decided it was time to further my education this year and Steve talked me into coming here, which I’m glad he did,” added Sheehan. “I’m glad to see the RDC program starting to come back, it’s good for the city.”
The Kings. 4-4-1, started a bit slow this season, but have won their final three starts, including two last weekend in Medicine Hat, which has moved them into third place in the South Division, two points ahead of Medicine Hat, who lost 5-1 to SAIT Saturday.
All the Kings need is a tie against Mount Royal today at RDC, or another SAIT win over MHC to wrap up their first playoff berth in four years.
“We’ve come leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season,” said Sheehan, who has 10 goals in nine games this season. “We did train during the summer, which helped a lot, but we’re coming together as a team and everyone knows each other.”
The Kings started a bit slow Saturday but were ahead 1-0 at the half.
“It wasn’t our best game and it showed in the first half, but we picked it up and did a good job in the second half. It was a big win if we want to make the playoffs,” said Sheehan.
Fullarton agreed.
“I thought we were a bit flat in the first half,” said Fullarton. “I think the guys believed they should win this, plus they were a bit tight as they had to win it.
“I was concerned in the first half as Lethbridge could have easily been tied, but we stuck to the task and played disciplined soccer.”
The Kodiaks didn’t as they got frustrated and lost two players because of red cards, leaving them with nine players by the end of the game.
“We’ve talked with our guys and stressed all season that we play under control and play like professionals,” said Fullarton.
“Today that helped us.”
Brad Hughes picked up the win in goal for RDC, registering his second shutout of the season.
Queens 2 Kodiaks 2
It wasn’t their best game, but the Queens secured a playoff spot in the ACAC with a 2-2 tie with the Kodiaks.
The tie left RDC with a 4-3-2 record and in second place, one point ahead of SAIT, 4-4-1, and four ahead of Medicine Hat, 3-5-1. Mount Royal, who the Queens face today at noon at RDC, has first place wrapped up.
The Queens came out flat and fell behind 2-0 in the first half as Melissa Tomilin and Laura-Lee Dore scored for the Kodiaks against RDC keeper Brittany Baker.
However, the second half was all RDC with Allison Walsh and Stephanie Tremblay connecting in a seven-minute span to tie the score. RDC dominated play for much of the final 45 minutes, but couldn’t break the tie.
“We didn’t start well, but did a good job of coming at them in the final 15 minutes of the first half, then showed a lot of mental toughness by taking control of the second half,” said Queens assistant coach Dave Colley. “It seems that we need to have a bit of adversity to fire us up. We shouldn’t get ourselves into that situation, but we did and fought back.
“It was an important point to secure a playoff spot, but a win would have been nice to wrap up second.”
The Queens can still finish second with a win against Mount Royal.
“It’s a big game for us as it would be nice to go into the playoffs with a win over them,” said Colley.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com