It was a successful road trip to start the OCAA season for our Wolves soccer teams who swept the double header over the George Brown Huskies at Esther Shiner Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The women's game got off to a shaky start with George Brown striking first in the 6th minute, however the Huskies early lead wouldn't last long as just seconds later Jordan Blades-McHenry fed Samantha Jones who made no mistake beating the keeper and tying the game 1-1. Jones would return the favour springing Blades-McHenry who gave the Wolves a 2-1 lead in the 29th minute. Algonquin would maintain their lead going into halftime.
The second half was all Wolves. In the 52nd minute Blades-McHenry drew a penalty in the box allowing Sarah Garrett to score her first OCAA goal on the penalty kick. Minutes later Garrett would strike again taking advantage of a Huskies turnover to score her 2nd of the game and give the Wolves a 4-1 lead. Algonquin scored their 5th and final goal of the game in the 79th minute when Demetra Georgiou put one off the crossbar and Blades-McHenry jumped on the rebound for her 2nd goal of the game. The Wolves striker had a brilliant performance, similar to what Wolves fans were used to seeing in 2022 during her OCAA Rookie of the Year season. Algonquin would shut things down defensively from there to walk away with a 5-1 win.
The men's team were looking forward to a battle with the Huskies after a disappointing result against them in the 2023 season. The first half was back and forth with the lone goal coming in the 38th minute when the Huskies took advantage of a Wolves mistake and put one over keeper Nicholas Parry and into the back of the net. The teams went into the locker room with George Brown leading 1-0.
Algonquin was pressing in the second half to try and find the equaliser, and their efforts were rewarded early when Jacob Toste-Gyurik took advantage of a failed clearing attempt to fire a rocket into the back of the net in the 50th minute. 9 minutes later Cristian Avlies-Molina intercepted a pass from the Huskies keeper and scored to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead. The Wolves shut things down defensively from there and looked poised to walk away with a 2-1 win, but they weren't done there. Early into extra time keeper Nicholas Parry sent a deep ball that eventually found Toste-Gyurik who headed it over to Tristan Serra who deposited it into the back of the net. Serra checked into the game in the 85th minute and took full advantage of his playing time scoring his first OCAA goal while adding some insurance for the Wolves.
With the first regular season road trip in the books, the Wolves will turn their attention to home opening weekend when they welcome the Fleming Phoenix on Saturday and the Durham Lords on Sunday at the Algonquin Sports Field.