Rustlers Futsal Compete in Second Qualification Weekend

Over the past weekend, the Rustlers Futsal teams traveled to Portage College to compete in the second qualification weekend of the season.  Both teams were competing to see if they could earn a spot in the final four at the end of March.

In the first game of the day against the Keyano Huskies, the  Women's Futsal team came out strong with Kim Pfeil opening the scoring for the Rustlers.  The game went back and forth and in the second half, both teams created multiple opportunities to score.  As the second half went on the score was tied 2 – 2 but the Huskies scored their third goal late in the game to give Keyano the lead and eventually a 3 – 2 win.  Makenna Sackman played a great game for the Rustlers which earned her the Player of the Game nod.

In the Rustler's second game of the day, the Rustlers took on the host Portage College Voyageurs.  The game started close at the beginning but the Rustlers started to build momentum and did not look back on their way to a 10 – 2 victory.  Kim Pfeil led all Rustler scorers with 3 goals and Landis Corbeil and Kayla Franks also added 2 each to lead the Rustlers to victory.  Landis Corbeil was named player of the game for the Rustlers.

Although the Rustlers had a strong performance over the weekend it was not enough to unseat the Keyano Huskies who will be moving on to the ACAC Championship

On the men's side, the Rustlers started Saturday off with a solid game against the Keyano Huskies.  The Rustlers played a very disciplined game which saw some great defensive play from student-athletes.  They scored some timely goals on counter-attacks which resulted in a 4 – 2 victory.  Gio Ciccacci, Hani Tekheste, Spencer Shand, and Patrick Muhumure were the goal scorers for Lakeland and Spencer Shand earned the Player of the Game.

Game 2 was a pivotal game for the Rustlers where they needed to earn a victory by at least two goals to move on to the ACAC Championship.   The Rustlers gave up two quick goals early which meant they had to take chance and press for most of the entire game.  By pressing and playing with a lot of grit and determination the Rustlers created numerous scoring opportunities but struggled to put the ball in the back of the net.    It resulted in the Rustlers only scoring 4 goals and Portage drove 7 past the Lakeland keepers.  The Player of the Game for the Rustlers went to Gio Ciccacci for a solid performance.

The men fell short of an ACAC Championship berth but played some solid Futsal over the two weekends of competition.  The men will still be competing in some exhibition competitions to finish off the year.