Holy Cross Kirby Group, Newfoundland and Labrador’s representative at the Toyota national senior men’s soccer championship, played one game on Wednesday, the opening day of the tournament being played in St. John’s and area.
But it could be say the Crusaders suffered two losses.
At King George V Park, Holy Cross gave up three goals in the last 10 minutes of what turned out to be a 5-2 loss to Alberta’s Edmonton Scottish. However, on the very last play of the game, Holy Cross goalkeeper Sam Hawco was red-carded for a foul on an Edmonton player, and that mean’s Hawco will almost certainly be unavailable for his team’s next game today and perhaps all of its remaining preliminary-round contests,
Holy Cross had fallen behind 2-0 just 15 minutes into the game, but got a pair of goals from Kyle Williams to tie the score before halftime.
The score remained 2-2 until the Alberta team got the game-winner at the 80-minute mark, and added two more insurance markers, including Paul Hamilton’s second of the game on a penalty kick.
Games in national championships, especially those early in the schedule, will see often teams fully invested until the final whistle, even in contests where the margin of victory is substantial. That’s because goal differential is often used as a tiebreaker in determining final preliminary-round standings leading into medal and placement games.
That was the case Wednesday.
In extra time, the ball found its way into the Holy Cross zone and was chased down by a number of players, including Edmonton’s Gurkirat Gill. Meanwhile, Hawco had raced out of the Holy Cross net to get to the ball, but couldn’t prevent Gill from reaching it first and releasing a shot that trickled wide of the Newfoundland goal. A split second later, a sliding Hawco crashed into Gill outside the 18-yard box. The Holy Cross ‘keeper, who had been named most valuable player of last month’s provincial Challenge Cup playoff tournament, was immediately given a red card by referee Juan Marquez.
A red card calls not for only the ejection of the offending player from the game but also suspension from at least his or her team’s next contest.
But on the game report, Hawco was cited for serious foul play (excessive/brute force), which normally leads to a three-game suspension, depending on a review by Soccer Canada’s disciplinary committee.
Jack Haywood is the other goalkeeper for Holy Cross.
Holy Cross’s next game is 6 p.m. today at King George V against British Columbia’s Central City Breakers of Surrey. In it’s first game of the competition on Wednesday, the B.C. team posted a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Lions.
Twitter: @telybrendan
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Standings, results, today’s schedule
(Note: Wins are worth three points, ties are worth one point; GD — goal differential)
Pool A
Team GP W L T GD Pts
Edmonton 1 1 0 0 +3 3
Surrey, B.C. 1 1 0 0 +1 3
Fredericton, N.B. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Winnipeg 1 0 1 0 -1 0
Holy Cross 1 1 0 0 - 3 0
———
Wednesday results
At King George V Park, St. John’s
Edmonton Scottish 5, Holy Cross Kirby Group 2
At Smallwood Middle Pitch, Mount Pearl
Central City Breakers (Surrey, B.C.) 2, FC Winnipeg Lions 1
Today’s Game
At King George V Park, St. John’s
6 p.m., Central City Breakers, Surrey, B.C. vs Holy Cross Kirby Group
———
Pool B
Team GP W L T GD Pts
Ottawa 1 1 0 0 +2 3
Saskatoon 1 0 1 0 0 1
Charlesbourg, Que. 1 0 1 0 0 1
Yellowknife, NT 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dartmouth, N.S, 1 0 1 0 -2 0
———
Wednesday results
At Smallwood Middle Pitch, Mount Pearl
Charlesbourg, Que., Kodiac 1, Saskatoon Revolution 1
At Topsail Complex, C.B.S.
Ottawa St. Anthony 3, DFC United (Dartmouth, N.S.) 0
Today’s Games
At Topsail Complex, C.B.S.
2 p.m., Charlesbourg, Que., Kodiac vs Yellowknife, N.T., Galaxy
At Smallwood Middle Pitch, Mount Pearl
5 p.m., Ottawa St. Anthony vs Saskatoon Revolution
