The St. Albert Impact 1 men’s soccer team scored a well-deserved win against the KC Trojans at home on Thursday night.
The Impact bested the Trojans by a score of 1-0 with the Impact’s Andrew Moore netting the only goal of the game early in the first half.
“We played really well, I thought,” said head coach Dave MacEachran.
The team has been improving throughout the season and MacEachran is pleased with both the players’ progress, as well as their performance against the KC Trojans.
“The team as a whole has really, I would say, matured over the year and they’re starting to play positionally a lot better than they were at the start, and it shows in the results tonight. We played a strong defensive game and winning 1-0 is a strong defensive game.”
The Impact defence looked to be communicating very well on the pitch and that strong defensive line definitely played a role in Thursday’s win.
Goalkeeper Adam Pinco was also a factor in the Impact victory. Although he wasn’t constantly under attack, Pinco ran and dived to make a few great saves during the game. His athleticism was a real asset in the net.
“I can’t give enough accolades to our back line and our goalkeeper Adam Pinco, he kept us in the game, he played really well,” said MacEachran. “He’s a really good goalkeeper and he does really well for us.”
Pinco said it was a “pretty good game by the guys out there, they didn’t give them (KC) much shots, so I didn’t have much to do other than a couple hits, that’s all.”
The St. Albert coaching staff has been making some positional changes within the team and judging by the players most recent performance, it looks like they’ve landed on the right combination.
“We’re just trying to work on our shape in the back line,” said MacEachran. “We’ve been really weak that way during the year and we’ve changed some people around and they seem to be doing quite well in their new positions and that seems to be working.
St. Albert’s exhibition game against the FC Edmonton Reserve last week provided an opportunity to work on the specific shape of the team’s back line and that helped the Impact going forward. It was also a good test for the group even though they lost by a score of 4-0.
“Well obviously we don’t have talent like that in our league but you know, it definitely shows us what we’re capable of considering a good result against them,” said Pinco.
The goalkeeper said that heading into their next game he’s, “feeling pretty good, happy with the team.” The Impact 1 will take on the Warriors Thursday night at Riel Park.
