Kickers rally to earn victory-Carman Valley Leader

By Gene Still
Friday July 01, 2005

— The Carman Kickers got back into the win column thanks to a second half rally. Carman hit the road on June 22 to face the Winnipeg Triumph. And after a less than inspiring performance during the first part of the contest, the Kickers regrouped during half-time to emerge with a 2-1 victory. Carman Coach William Hoogerdijk said his club got off to a slow start and just didn’t seem to be in sync during the opening 45 minutes. “We kind of sat back for a while and they had a bit of a ‘go’ at us,” Hoogerdijk said. “We just weren’t executing as well as we should have and they were beating us to the ball.” Sitting back proved costly as a mental defensive breakdown by Carman allowed the Triumph to record the game’s opening goal as a hard shot eluded netminder Rich Vanderveen. “It was a very well place shot,” Hoogerdijk said. “Rich played it pretty well but it was just a good shot.” Made adjustmentsIt remained 1-0 until the intermission. And the coach spoke briefly with the team during the break and they made some adjustments. “I saw some things I liked from some of the guys, but there were a few that for whatever reason, were sort of invisible during the first half,” Hoogerdijk said.Despite the adjustments, the team didn’t come out too aggressively after half-time, because as the coach pointed out, they were only down by a goal. “We played steady,” he said. “We were more confident. “But they also didn’t want to force things and give the other side a chance to score another goal.” That strategy paid off on the scoreboard as Lyle Vanveen tied it at 1-1 scoring just a few minutes before the midway point of the final half. And the tally seemed to inspire the visitors as they began to carry the play. “It was a huge boost for our guys – a big momentum thing,” Hoogerdijk said. “They really came out strong after that goal.” However the Triumph didn’t exactly fold up and roll over. Hoogerdijk said they actually had a couple of excellent scoring chances while the match was knotted at 1-1. “They (Triumph) had what was basically a two-on-one break but Rich (Vanderveen) came out and made the save for us. That was really big,” Hoogerdijk said. And after that it appeared momentarily that Winnipeg had taken the lead, but the referee ruled that the shot had hit the top crossbar and did not go in. Carman then regained its momentum and Ian Bergsma made no mistake with a cross pass courtesy of teammate Shane Termeer with about eight minutes left in regulation. The Kickers went on to earn the win and even their regular season record at 2-2. He was impressed with the way they performed in the second half. “We did a lot of the small things that we need to do to be successful,” he said. The victory put Carman in possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Fourth Division. The coach noted that they also have a game in hand. “We’re kind of in the thick of things with a game in hand,” he said. “And we have to try and take advantage of that.”