Broncos lose heartbreaker to the Kings

Brendan Stasiewich, Olds College Sports Information

RED DEER- The Olds College Broncos travelled up the QE-2 on Saturday, losing an absolute heartbreaker to the Red Deer College Kings by the score of 2-1.

Just when it looked like the visitors were going to pick up their first point of the 2017 season, the feeling was ripped away by Hugo Janssen, scoring with one minute remaining to give the Kings a much needed win.

The tightly defended first half was spent almost entirely in the mid-field region as open space was hard to come by; as were scoring chances. The opening 45 minute went by scoreless without much action to put on the scoresheet.

It took nearly an hour's worth of play for the first ball to hit twine. The Kings opened the scoring early in the second half when Theoren Gill was awarded a penalty kick. Gill launched a rocket off of his foot, just past the outstretched arms of Broncos' goaltender Julio Cesar Merelles.

A crazy minute of soccer occurred to give the Broncos an opportunity to tie the game. During a mad scramble in front, Kings keeper Talon Grenier made an illegal touch, giving the Broncos an indirect kick from inside the box.

The Kings formed a wall, protecting the net, while the Broncos sent a shot towards what looked like an impenetrable defense. While the original shot was blocked down, a flurry of white and black jerseys swarmed the box, with the ball eventually getting behind Grenier and into the cage.

While both teams had a few good chances down the stretch, it looked like the game would end in a draw. Cue Hugo Janssen.

On a fast break on the left side of the field, Merelles decided to come far out of his net to challenge the Kings player. Janssen calmly sent a beautiful chip shot over the head of Merelles, and to the dismay of the visiting bench, the ball trickled into the Broncos' net.

The win was the first of the year for the Kings, who will host SAIT tomorrow at 2 P.M., as they improve their record to 1-2-0. Meanwhile the Broncos loss drops them to 0-0-2. The Broncos will look to turn the ship around tomorrow as they travel to Lloydminster to face the Lakeland Rustlers.