Spencer Postman and Jiho Chun both scored twice to lead the CCHS Crusaders to a 5-1 victory over Okotoks’ Oilfields High in Foothills Soccer League action, Monday (May 16).
“We had a strong attack and were strong on the back end,” said assistant coach Gary Anderson.
Canmore jumped out to an early lead, as Tim Burkins and Chun put CCHS ahead. Mastering deft ball movement, the Canmore offence maintained a huge territorial advantage, quickly extinguishing any sort of offensive spark Okotoks tried to ignite. Manny Cresencia was strong, marshalling the offence from the back end.
“He wins a lot of the battles for us and is key in the midfield,” Anderson said.
In the second half, Canmore continued their dominance in the offensive zone, tiring the Okotoks defenders with dogged speed and ball pursuit.
The possession game paid off early, as Postman ripped his first of the game from 24 yards out, firing a laser through the crowd that bested the Okotoks keeper.
Okotoks broke the shutout shortly after, when Oilfields’ Calvin Creighton converted a corner kick, however, Canmore marched back up the field to allow Chun to capitalize on a ‘tender miscue. Chun beat a defender in a race and was there for the easy tap-in when the goalie bobbled the ball.
Postman was then awarded a penalty shot after an Okotoks defender touched the ball in the penalty area. The Canmore striker calmly deposited the ball in the bottom right hand corner of the net to close out the scoring play.
As potent as the Canmore offence was against the Oilfields squad, coaches stressed the importance of burying chances. In the later minutes of the second half, Canmore had several glorious chances off of corner kicks, but could not convert.
“The theme after the game is we gotta be quicker. We gotta take advantage of our chances,” Anderson said.
Postman credited his teammates for helping him net two key goals.
“In the midfield, we have strong players and those goals don’t come without hard work from them,” Postman said.
One of the reasons the team has performed well, which was evident against Okotoks, is thanks to the work of fitness coach Karl Albert. Albert worked with the players over the winter with high intensity training circuits focused on improving player speed, agility and quickness.
“The boys take it seriously and their fitness is really showing through,” Albert said. “It’s difficult to have training time now that the season is on, but the main key is to make sure they have superior fitness,” he said.
