The St. Albert Men’s Soccer League all-stars quenched their thirst Sunday with a six-pack of goals.
The sweet taste of victory against the St. Albert Impact, the second-place division 2A team in the Edmonton District Soccer Association, wiped away the bitterness from last year's loss on penalty kicks after a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time.
“The guys played great,” said Louis Trupp, goalkeeper for Prestige Worldwide, after the 6-2 friendly at Riel Park. “We were definitely looking to get out there and play a tough game.”
Terry Esposito, the SAMSL Golden Boot scoring leader with 18 goals, got the ball rolling for the all-stars in the seventh minute with a well-placed strike and his teammate on the Forest Park Rangers, a very tall Phil Linehan, popped in an opportunistic header over top of Impact goalkeeper Kurt Steendam to make it 2-1 in the 41st minute.
An offside call also nullified a tap-in by Rylan Durocher of Forest Park on a nifty setup by Esposito in the ninth minute.
“We got up early and I felt we never stopped playing. We just out-played them," Trupp said.
In the second half, Patrick Connor of Forest Park, Adam King of Impact Alumni, Brendan Woodland of LADS FC and Durocher slotted markers on plays that showcased not only their scoring prowess but the canny ability of the all-stars to put the ball in position for the finishers to execute.
“We had guys like Terry up front and in the middle using their speed to get around their guys. We were attacking space and scoring goals. It was great,” Trupp said.
Defensively, the all-stars rallied around their busy shot stopper with several big plays that prevented the Impact from finding the back of the net with the exception of two goals by Josh Vickers, including a penalty shot in the 33rd minute to knot it at one.
“They had some big, big shot blocks and that was huge. I had about five, six players in my way in between me and the ball,” said the appreciative Trupp. “We also had our defence step up and do the things they’re supposed to do by playing big body positions with some of the other big players on the other team.
“We had a couple of little defensive errors now and again like most teams have but it was really good how hard the guys worked in front of me.”
Among the defensive gems was a slick tackle on Vickers by Matt Hajek of the DV Youngmen early in the match and in the second half Sam Simonson of Impact Alumni disrupted a scoring opportunity in front of the net.
King, who had a spring in his step traversing all over the pitch after turning 21 the day before, was also in the right place at the right time alongside Trupp on the goal line to kick a ball out of harm's way in the 26th minute.
Trupp, 24, was no slouch either as the last line of defence. He was tested early by the dangerous Sam Smith-Ackerl, the Impact’s top scorer with nine goals who was dancing with the ball in the first half as the all-stars played on their back foot for good chunks of the opening 45 minutes.
A stretch of quality chances in the second half also kept Trupp on his toes and among his saves was off a free kick in the 74th minute after Ben MacPherson of Magnitude FC was yellow carded for an unruly tackle in the defensive zone.
“I had a couple of all right saves and we were able to stay in it,” said Trupp, who got a piece of Vickers' penalty shot with a low diving attempt to his right but the ball deflected off his hands and off the post and in.
Vickers was awarded the penalty shot after Tom Fleming of Prestige was assessed a yellow card for knocking the Impact striker over from behind while chased a through ball with gusto.
“It was kind of rough on that penalty shot. I knew I had a pretty good idea where the guy was going to shoot and I just wasn’t quick enough getting down to that one side,” Trupp said.
Overall it was a blast for the man of the match.
“I had a lot of fun. It’s with guys you play against all season and it’s nice to get together and use each other’s skill sets to collaborate a little bit on the field and get some nice goals and we scored some great goals today,” Trupp said.
The Impact took the loss in stride.
“It’s an exhibition game so it has a little bit of a different mood to it but they put together a good squad and we just didn’t come with our A game and they took it too us,” Smith-Ackel said.
Both squads were also missing key players like Scott Robson of the Impact, second in team goals with six, and Chester City veteran Matt Starcheski, who is tied for second in SAMSL scoring with 14 goals.
In the EDSA, the Impact (7-2-3, 35 GF/15 GA) are poised to secure a division one promotion and a berth in the Tier II provincial playdowns with a top-two placing and the team’s second-last match in league play was Tuesday against Strikers HPP (5-5-1) but the score was unavailable at press time.
“It’s been pretty awesome. We’re on the road to being promoted to division one and that was the goal at the beginning of the season and we’re on track right now. We have two big games coming up and if we make it through those then we’ll be there,” Smith-Ackerl said. “We have the lowest goals-against (in the division) and our defence is definitely the strength of our team by far. We rely on them tons.
“But it’s definitely been the attitude among the guys and the guys coming together and getting along so well and that shows on the soccer field. What happens in the dressing room and the attitude and camaraderie in there shows out there.”
The last two Impact matches were 1-1 results against first-place FC Fizi (8-2-2) last-place Steaua/Redhill FC 1-7-4.
“Fizi is a good soccer team and that was just good soccer by both teams and against (Steaua/Redhill) it just wasn’t our day,” Smith-Ackerl said. “We just have to find a way to get out of this slump but no one is worried right now. No one is stressing.”
Smith-Ackerl, 18, scored in both matches and against the all-stars his speed and flashy footwork was impressive.
“I have to give all the credit to the other guys. They’re the ones feeding me the balls and I just tap them in so they do everything and I get the easiest job,” said the Bellerose Composite High School graduate and captain of the midget AAA St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders last season.
Meanwhile, SAMSL was scheduled to wrap up league play Tuesday and the playoff round kicks off Aug. 13.
Forest Park (12-1-1) has nailed down the league pennant for a berth at the Tier III provincials next month in Calgary.
Impact Alumni (9-3-1) and Prestige (8-4-1) were ranked second and third, respectively, and Magnitude (6-5-2) was fourth.
Last year Prestige defeated Forest Park in the two-match aggregate playoff final on Keegan Fraser’s dramatic header with seconds left in the second 15-minute extra period in the second match, a 3-2 win. The playoff lid-lifter was a 1-1 draw.
Prestige finished 14-3-4 in league, provincial and playoff action but this season after a rough start with three losses and one tie the defending champs are back in the winning groove again even though two of the four defeats were 4-0 and 3-2 to Forest Park.
“It wasn’t our normal team starting out where we usually jump right to it and get some quick wins at the beginning of the season but we’ve gone undefeated the last five games. We’ve made a big run here at the end and we have one more game Tuesday (against Impact Alumni) and I’m hoping that with a win that will put us up into second place,” said Trupp, a high school product of the Jasper Place Rebels who has EDSA experience with the Drillers and Victoria before joining SAMSL with Prestige.
