CANMORE – After getting their heads into the bronze medal game at zones, a two-goal lead wasn’t safe around the Canmore Wolverines boys' soccer team on Monday (June 5).
Wolverines’ Isaac Kloeverpris scored the game winner that was part of three unanswered goals against the Strathmore Spartans in a 3-2 comeback at Canmore’s Millennium Field.
Scoring Canmore’s other two goals were Kai Perron and Emmet Long.
“It was a hard fought game coming back from two nil, but I think we really turned around in the second half and showed them what we could do and how we could play,” said Grade 10 striker Charlie Williams.
At season start, the consensus was that the Wolverines would be in rebuild mode, but it was quickly discovered that the punch the Wolverines packed was not to be messed with.
The team finished 4-1, only losing to the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans, which won zones’ gold medal game, 3-1, against the Holy Trinity Knights.
“We were expecting to have a younger roster this year, so we thought it was going to be a development year and then, as coaches, we were completely surprised by the quality and effort that our boys put in throughout the season,” said coach Layne Hamilton. “As the season went on, I was hoping for a gold medal game, but looking back to where our expectations were at the beginning of the season, third place, we're quite happy with it.”
In the final game before summer break, the first half was “not easy to watch” for Wolverines fans. The team’s focus was everywhere but in the game, and just like that, the Wolverines went down 2-0.
“We were really slow, we were really sloppy, we couldn't connect on any passes, and we were just being very lazy and it showed on the scoreboard when we went down two nothing,” said Hamilton.
Before the end of the first half, the Wolverines got on the scoreboard with a strike from Long.
It was a much-needed goal for the team’s morale, said Williams.
“It was just sort of like a wake-up call, but in a good way,” he said.
Despite cutting the lead in half, the Wolverines coaches called out the high school boys' lack of effort through the first 45 minutes.
“We really pressed into them about, not necessarily the result of the game, but the effort that we were seeing, in our entire halftime chat,” said Hamilton. “There was no tactical discussion, no talking about X's and O's. It was all just, hey, we need to get more out of everybody on the field.”
The boys responded to the tough love, stepping up their game and taking ownership of their poor play from earlier.
“They went out and showed us what they really have,” said Hamilton.
Perron, who might be better known for running over competition in football, tied things up for the Wolverines. Then, it was Kloeverpris scoring the go-ahead goal.
“It was kind of like, OK, this is how it should be for all the boys, that's kind of what the feeling was,” said Hamilton. “We are the better team, we should be winning this game. Let's keep on pushing, but it was like that, there's that excitement that coming together as a team of, yes, this is how it needs to be.”
For the entire game, goalkeeper Asher Betts had kept the Wolverines alive with timely and big saves. When the clock ran out and the comeback was completed, the entire team rushed over to Betts and celebrated.
It was an impressive victory, said Hamilton, especially after a polar opposite two halves.
“We really showed this year how much class and the character of athletes that we have and that was a big message from our coaching staff and that was kind of our biggest takeaway of the year. “
