One week into their brand new jobs, the Quest men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 soccer head coaches are still looking for their first victories.
The Kermodes returned to regular season action in the Pacwest on Sept. 3 at home against the VIU Mariners, with the women鈥檚 team losing 3-1 and the men falling 2-1.
Capilano University was next on Saturday (Sept. 13) but the trip to North Vancouver resulted in a 1-1 draw for the women and a 2-0 loss for the men.
The three game opening weekend concluded on Sunday (Sept. 14) against Douglas College, with the women losing 2-1 and the men losing 1-0.
Sunday鈥檚 game featured the Quest men鈥檚 team receiving three red cards, as Sam Dyck, Vikram Puri and Max Tegesen all hit the showers early. Despite being shorthanded for most of the second half, Quest still managed to generate chances said men鈥檚 head coach Alexander Elliot.
鈥淲e liked our resilience to play with eight men there and we created chances to tie it up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate that the red cards dwindled our second half efforts a bit and the boys are gutted over the scenario.鈥�
Elliot wasn鈥檛 thrilled with the cards but said his team reacted well to the pressure.
鈥淲e felt that none of the tackles were reckless so we felt a little bit unfortunate to be handed them given that we kept our mouth shut on everything and acted as professional as possible,鈥� he said.
He admitted that he likes his squads to play with a high compete level but said he doesn鈥檛 consider his team鈥檚 play aggressive.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 play overly aggressive,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have good players and want to let them play. Our competitive level has to be very high because we鈥檙e a smaller and younger team. We want them to be fully engaged and give a full effort at all times and sometimes that can lead to reckless tackles.鈥�
He added that he was happy with his team鈥檚 effort against VIU and that it will take time for his young team to gel.
鈥淚f mistakes weren鈥檛 made early on then we could have been on the better end,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no frustration for us and no urgency to correct everything at once. It鈥檚 a slow process and we look to be on the right path.鈥�
Tagesen scored the lone goal for the men鈥檚 team in week one on Sept. 3.
The women鈥檚 team managed to pick up a draw but lost two games at home this week 鈥� in 2013, when women's head coach Craig Smith was the assistant coach, the women鈥檚 team only lost a total of three games.
Sunday鈥檚 game against Douglas started off poorly, with the Royals opening the scoring 10 minutes into play. Quest鈥檚 Tanner Batchelor managed to beat the goalie near the end of the first half but the goal was disallowed after she was determined to be offside.
The Royals added another goal early in the second half but a much-improved Quest team applied the pressure. Batchelor rang a shot off the crossbar and Emily Ancil hit a post and Quest鈥檚 hard work finally paid off when Batchelor scored to make it 2-1.
But that would be as close as Quest would get.
Quest鈥檚 Gabby Villasenor scored the team鈥檚 lone goal on Saturday and VIU scored an own goal in the season opener on Sept. 3.
The teams return to action on Saturday (Sept. 13) when they take on the Kwantlen Eagles in Surrey. Quest returns to action in 麻豆社国产on Sunday (Sept. 14), when the Langara Falcons come to town. The women kick off at noon and the men hit the pitch at 2 p.m.
For more information on the teams, visit www.questkermodes.ca.聽
