Courtesy: Fort McMurray Today


Huskies chase futsal medals

by Trevor Howlett

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Keyano College Huskies futsal teams are headed to Olds, Alta. to compete in the ACAC provincial futsal tournament and try their best to bring home a medal.

The men’s futsal team are the clear favourites to win the ACAC and they are embracing that status.

The Huskies went 10-0 in their other ACAC futsal tournaments and the expectation is they will bring home the gold this year. Huskies head coach Connor Brady said his team just needs to continue to do what they’ve been doing to be successful.

“At the end of the day we’ve just got to do what’s best for us, play our game and slow things down,” said Brady. “Just play the game we want to play and that tends to work in our favour. The fact that we’re 10-0 is because we didn’t underestimate anybody and that will be no different this weekend.”

Futsal is a fast-paced variation of indoor soccer played on a hard court surface. It is particularly popular in South America and the Huskies team is full of players who grew up playing the game, which gives them an advantage.

While the futsal players all come from the Huskies outdoor team, Keyano’s Marcos Betioli said some of the Huskies prefer futsal over soccer.

“Most of my life I always played futsal, it’s huge in Brazil and they have a professional league,” said Betioli. “I feel at home playing futsal. That’s what I always played, that’s what Santiago (Raigoza) played and also Jonathon Cordoba. We feel comfortable playing futsal.”

Keyano captured the bronze medal last year in men’s futsal, but with a scoring differential of +32, most would expect they will improve on that performance this year. The Huskies will be up against the Lakeland Rustlers, Medicine Hat Rattlers and Red Deer Kings at the ACAC provincial tournament in Olds.

The women’s Huskies are in a different position than their male counterparts, slipping into the ACAC provincials in the final playoff spot with a record of 3-4-3.

The Huskies were slow starters this futsal season because they didn’t have Chantal Fluker in the lineup. When Fluker joined for tournament no. 2, the Huskies went 3-1-1, with their only loss coming to Red Deer with a 2-1 final score. Huskies women’s futsal head coach Mike Hull thinks the team needs to focus on defense to have a chance at a medal.

“We’re a defensive team. Last tournament we only let in three goals in five games,” said Hull. “Our offence will come through April (Weigelt). She’s scored 8-10 goals for us and she’s the person we look for putting the puck in the net, although we’ve also had help from other girls like Becca Gerrits. Our strategy is defence first and offence will come through that and we have a strong goalie in Lisa Harrison.”

Hull said the adjustment from playing outdoor soccer to futsal was difficult for a few players, but most of his team enjoy the game and some have found success in different roles like the aforementioned Weigelt; she was a reliable defender for the Huskies in soccer but in futsal she plays as a scoring forward. Weigelt agrees with Hull that the Huskies need to focus on defence and their chances will come.

“We just need really strong defence and to be pressuring more,” said Weigelt. “We just have to take advantage of their mistakes and punish them.”

The Huskies women’s team will kick off their provincial tournament at 7:30 p.m. against Lakeland, while the men’s team will first face the Red Deer Kings at 5:30 p.m. Friday.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com