Tie with Western gives Gryphon soccer men first point
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons battled the Western Mustangs to a scoreless standoff Sunday at the Gryphon Soccer Complex for their first point of the OUA men’s soccer season.
Most of the game was fought in the midfield area as both teams had trouble maintaining their attacks, partly due to the defensive play of their opponents and partly due to poor decisions in the opposition’s end.
Guelph Gryphons 0 Western Mustangs 0
“We’re looking for little layoffs when we should be looking to spin and shoot,” Gryphon head coach Keith Mason said. “It’s a mentality we’ve just got to change a little bit and then we can turn those kind of games into victories.”
The end result was that there was a single shot on target in the game, that one by the Gryphs. Both teams took four shots that didn’t hit the net during the contest.
“All week we’ve talked about the mentality of going forward, the mentality of trying to beat people, the mentality of scoring opportunities,” Mason said. “I think we were a lot better at that compared to Monday. The difference was that when we got into those key areas, we’re still looking to lay off instead of top strikers, top midfielders, top wingers looking to be the heroes at that time. ‘Can I score the goal?’ That was the only part we were missing today.”
Western had four corner kicks, twice as many as the hosts, while play was halted for 12 Gryphon fouls and eight Mustang fouls.
The yellow card was held aloft five times, three times at Guelph players while both times Western was shown the yellow was in the final 11 minutes of the match.
It was the second meeting between the teams in a week as Western had edged the Gryphs 2-1 in London on Labour Day Monday.
“They were two tough games, Western’s a good team,” Mason said. “It’s very, very competitive this year. We definitely played better in this game than we did Monday. I think we showed ourselves a lot better.
“We’ve just got to get better in the attacking third and in the box. The defensive box we got right today, we’ve just got to get the attacking box right now.”
Those results against the Mustangs leave the young Gryphs in the basement of the West Division at 0-1-1.
York Lions lead the division at 2-0-2 and are followed by the Laurier Golden Hawks at 2-1-1, McMaster Marauders at 2-2-0, Western at 1-0-1, Waterloo Warriors at 1-2-1, Brock Badgers at 1-1-0, Windsor Lancers at 0-0-3, Algoma Thunderbirds at 0-2-2 and the Gryphs.
The Gryphs are a young squad. Of the 30 players listed on their roster on the team’s website, nine are in their first year and 10 are in their second year.
“We are very young,” Mason said. “It’s a big transition from last year. We’re missing two or three players already that came in injured that would normally be starters. We’re young and I love the young players we’ve got. I think they’re going to be awesome.”
Next opponent for the Gryphs is Waterloo. The original schedule for the two weekend games between the teams has been flip-flopped as now they are to play on Waterloo’s Warrior Field Friday at 8:15 p.m. and on the Gryphon Soccer Complex’s west field Sunday at 3:15 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Tie with Western gives Gryphon soccer men first point
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons battled the Western Mustangs to a scoreless standoff Sunday at the Gryphon Soccer Complex for their first point of the OUA men’s soccer season.
Most of the game was fought in the midfield area as both teams had trouble maintaining their attacks, partly due to the defensive play of their opponents and partly due to poor decisions in the opposition’s end.
Guelph Gryphons 0
Western Mustangs 0
“We’re looking for little layoffs when we should be looking to spin and shoot,” Gryphon head coach Keith Mason said. “It’s a mentality we’ve just got to change a little bit and then we can turn those kind of games into victories.”
The end result was that there was a single shot on target in the game, that one by the Gryphs. Both teams took four shots that didn’t hit the net during the contest.
“All week we’ve talked about the mentality of going forward, the mentality of trying to beat people, the mentality of scoring opportunities,” Mason said. “I think we were a lot better at that compared to Monday. The difference was that when we got into those key areas, we’re still looking to lay off instead of top strikers, top midfielders, top wingers looking to be the heroes at that time. ‘Can I score the goal?’ That was the only part we were missing today.”
Western had four corner kicks, twice as many as the hosts, while play was halted for 12 Gryphon fouls and eight Mustang fouls.
The yellow card was held aloft five times, three times at Guelph players while both times Western was shown the yellow was in the final 11 minutes of the match.
It was the second meeting between the teams in a week as Western had edged the Gryphs 2-1 in London on Labour Day Monday.
“They were two tough games, Western’s a good team,” Mason said. “It’s very, very competitive this year. We definitely played better in this game than we did Monday. I think we showed ourselves a lot better.
“We’ve just got to get better in the attacking third and in the box. The defensive box we got right today, we’ve just got to get the attacking box right now.”
Those results against the Mustangs leave the young Gryphs in the basement of the West Division at 0-1-1.
York Lions lead the division at 2-0-2 and are followed by the Laurier Golden Hawks at 2-1-1, McMaster Marauders at 2-2-0, Western at 1-0-1, Waterloo Warriors at 1-2-1, Brock Badgers at 1-1-0, Windsor Lancers at 0-0-3, Algoma Thunderbirds at 0-2-2 and the Gryphs.
The Gryphs are a young squad. Of the 30 players listed on their roster on the team’s website, nine are in their first year and 10 are in their second year.
“We are very young,” Mason said. “It’s a big transition from last year. We’re missing two or three players already that came in injured that would normally be starters. We’re young and I love the young players we’ve got. I think they’re going to be awesome.”
Next opponent for the Gryphs is Waterloo. The original schedule for the two weekend games between the teams has been flip-flopped as now they are to play on Waterloo’s Warrior Field Friday at 8:15 p.m. and on the Gryphon Soccer Complex’s west field Sunday at 3:15 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal