The St. Albert Men’s Soccer League final ended in stunning style.
Prestige Worldwide and Forest Park Rangers were destined to decide their fate in penalty kicks when the dramatic championship clincher was scored with only seconds remaining in the second 15-minute extra period.
Keegan Fraser’s opportunistic header left the Rangers shaking theirs in disbelief over the 3-2 loss on a windy Sunday afternoon at Riel Park.
“To watch it go in was very satisfying, especially at the end of the game like that,” said an overjoyed Fraser, as the Prestige players hoisted the playoff cup in celebration. “It’s definitely good to get a game winner and the goal at the same time.”
The memorable marker was set up by Dustin Wiebe’s free kick from past the halfway line for Prestige that hit the wall and the rebound was collected by his teammates. The ball was quickly sent to Jessie Yuzdepski on the right flank and he swung the ball across the pitch for Jordan Beam to tee it up as Fraser jockeyed for position in the penalty area.
“He hit that curling cross over to me and it found the head height and I put it in the bottom corner,” said Fraser, a wily forward who finally scored against goalkeeper Darren Sinke after several glorious chances. “It’s definitely satisfying especially after I hit the crossbar a few times so it was a monkey off the back of sorts.”
The two-game aggregate playoff went down to the wire after Prestige scored twice in the second half to knot Tuesday’s opener at two, including the equalizer by Wiebe with five minutes to play.
The rematch was also too close to call with teams deadlocked at 1-1 after the first extra period.
“Oh man, it definitely tore my heart out of my chest. It was scary, scary,” said a relieved-looking Tom Fleming, the Prestige player/coach. “They deserved to be just as close as they were. We just got lucky in the last minute to put that last one away.
“This was a little bit better game possession-wise (than Tuesday’s 2-2 outcome) but there is still so much more we should’ve done better, especially finishing and taking more shots.”
Fraser’s scoring feat was a punch in the gut for the Ranger after pulling even at two with under 10 minutes to go.
“It was just a heartbreaker there in the last few seconds. A man snuck free and popped it into the back of the net and by then time had run out on us,” said midfielder Craig Cameron with a shrug of the shoulders.
It was a typical performance by the top two teams in the regular season after ties of 2-2 May 10 and 1-1 June 7 before Prestige won 3-1 June 28.
In the five-team playoff round-robin to determine the two finalists and third-place pairing, Prestige forfeited its Sept. 6 match to the Rangers after going 0-2-1 at the Tier III provincials in Calgary that ended two days before the scheduled contest.
“It’s always been a close game against these guys. It’s always a tough battle and today it was like that again. It’s two extremely close teams,” Cameron said. “There is not much space out there so the difference was inches. All the goals that were scored today just came from small little breakdowns. That sums up the way we played all season. It’s always been back and forth between us.”
The Rangers struck first as the elusive Terry Esposito slipped past the Prestige defence to track down a ball and his sturdy kick beat goalkeeper Louis Trupp in the fifth minute.
It marked the second playoff tilt Prestige got off on the wrong foot. The last game was 2-0 Rangers at halftime.
“It was a challenge, especially with the way we start both games,” Fraser said. “It really makes it tough on us when we do that to ourselves.”
The fast-paced action in the first half featured Trupp’s diving save against the post on a low shot by Esposito, who gave the Prestige defenders fits with quickness, and a Cameron blast from scoring range that sailed over the net, while Andrew Di Timoteo was denied on a header by Sinke and Fraser belted the ball off the crossbar.
Prestige’s first goal was scored by Kyle Molyneaux off a throw-in three minutes into the second half. Sinke was unable to squeeze the shot as the ball bounced into the net.
Prestige ramped up the pressure after the score with Wiebe causing havoc in front of Sinke. A number of corner kicks by Wiebe were unsuccessful into the wind.
The Rangers also tested Trupp with a couple of quality opportunities from close range.
The Rangers had the slight edge in the first extra period but the best scoring chance was Fraser weaving his way around Sinke after a strong run chasing down the ball, then with basically an open net staring him in the face he drilled a shot off the crossbar.
Two minutes into the second extra period, Fraser’s back-heel pass to Wiebe was salted away to make it 2-1. The goal was Wiebe’s seventh to lead all playoff scorers and the 17th of the season for the league’s Golden Boot scoring champion.
“I saw him in the corner of my eye as he was making that run and when I received the ball a little bit behind me the first and only thought going through my head was to play it right to him and hopefully he gets it on net and scores a goal, which he did,” Fraser said.
Credit the Rangers for not throwing in the towel down 2-1, as Amrit Saraf and Ryan Miller combined for the team’s second goal four minutes after Wiebe’s effort.
“When they went ahead things were looking gloomy but when we tied it up again we were feeling really good heading into the last probably five, six minutes of the game,” Cameron said. “We put our heads back down and worked really hard to get the ball up the field there and in the end it was a great job by Ryan to show patience inside the box to hold off the defenders to be able to play it to the back post and an easy goal for Amrit.”
Prestige took the goal in stride.
“It’s certainly not the greatest feeling when you get up a goal in overtime like that but I don’t think we really cared about that too much. We just played our own game and then we found a way to score,” said Fraser, 22, a Paul Kane High School graduate.
The loss left the Rangers, formerly the SV Spurs, with a record of 13-3-3 (49 GF/17 GA).
“It caps off a great season for us,” said Cameron, 37.
Prestige improved to 14-3-4 (64 GF/19 GA) in league, provincial and playoff action.
“I consider us a family. We just gel so well together. We never practice. We just go out there and try and have fun. Winning is not even part of it. We just want to have fun,” said Fleming, 22, the team’s stopper and one of about eight players who won the 2011 playoff cup with CSKA Blues FC. “We’ve come a long, long way this season, seriously. This is my first season being a coach for these guys and I couldn’t have imagined a better team. They make me feel just like I’m part of the guys and I’m not a coach at all.”
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view Prestige’s team picture.
CORNER KICKS: Sunday’s third-place playoff ended with a 3-2 win for Magnitude FC (6-11-1, 21 GF/34 GA) over Chester City (7-11, 30 GF/34 GA).
It was 3-0 Magnitude with 15 minutes left but a penalty shot and an awkward ball into the box with the wind brought Chester to within one.
Josh Johnston, Jake Beauchemin and Shawn Song scored for Magnitude.
