Despite the game being interrupted by two half-hour delays due to thundershowers, St. Thomas University Tommies men’s soccer coach Darren Cann still feels the Holland College Hurricanes was the better team in Saturday’s game at Scotiabank South Park.
“They were the better team on the day and they deserved to win,” Cann said following STU’s regular season home opener at Scotiabank South Park. “We’re disappointed with the result where we came short 4-1.”
Though the weather was less then ideal, Cann said that had nothing to do with the Tommies’ struggle against the Hurricanes.
Things were looking good for the Tommies early on. Josh Drennan gave STU a one-goal lead eight minutes in, but Holland College responded quickly. George Coles tied the game up for the Hurricanes 17 minutes later.
“The next two goals we could have prevented,” said Cann. “They were silly, basic mistakes from the corner and open plays that we could have done better with.”
Jordan Fabri put the Hurricanes up 2-1 before Ibrah Sanoh scored two goals roughly four minutes apart to put the game out of STU’s reach.
Cann expects the Hurricanes will be a force to be reckoned with in the ACAA this season.
“We were up against a very good Holland College team,” he said. “They’ve got very good players and we really struggled to cope with their intensity and their abilities to play with the ball.”
The Tommies entered this game with one win under their belt, as they defeated the University of Maine Presque Isle 5-0 in preseason action earlier that week.
“It’s the first game of the season, and we’re still working at certain things and improving our game.”
The Tommies redeemed themselves against the Dalhousie Agricultural College Rams. STU was down one early on, but went on to win 3-1. They will host the University of Kings College Blue Devils on Saturday and then the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics on Sunday. For now, they will work on learning from their mistakes against Holland College.
