Men’s soccer Wolves prey on the Falcons to advance to the quarterfinals

The Algonquin Wolves men’s soccer team defeated the Fanshawe Falcons 4-1 at home on Oct. 15 to advance to the quarterfinals.

With this win, the Wolves were scheduled to face Sheridan Bruins on Oct. 18 at the Algonquin Sports Field.

Gershom Dupuy opened the scoring 26 minutes in on an assist from Alix Basa. It was the only goal scored in the first half.

Falcons’ head coach Rob Pereira said they tried to change strategies.

“I thought we did a really good job of that, limited their high danger scoring chances,” Pereira said. “But unfortunately, they got the one in the first half, and then we needed to open up a little bit, and then it hurt us when we switched.”

The change did not go unnoticed by the Wolves.

“We had to adapt, obviously, because we saw how they dropped deep really quick and gave us a lot of the ball,” Wolves captain Cristian Aviles-Molina said.

Aviles-Molina compared their strategy to that of the George Brown Huskies in their game on Oct. 11 and thought the Wolves adapted quicker this time around.

Basa scored 20 minutes into the second half, assisted by Alaa Mahfouz. Three minutes later, Mohammed Mecheri booted it in on an assist from Basa, giving Basa a four-point night.

Then about 87 minutes in, there was a mishap when Wolves goalie Nick Parry scored on his own net, fumbling a pass from a Wolves player.

“Obviously, (Parry is) going to be a bit annoyed with himself,” Aviles-Molina said. “But we as a team, we don’t feel (that) way about it at all. We know that Nick’s a quality goalie, and he hopefully bounces back quick, but I know he will.”

Then about a minute later, Alessandro Vivolo ended the game on a high note, scoring with an assist from Alaa Mahfouz.

Vivolo, who had the most points in the regular season with 38, had some chances earlier in the game, including a penalty kick.

“I feel like I should have had a couple,” Vivolo said. “Then I missed the pen, and then my head was gone. But I just had to take some deep breaths and just get back into the game. And luckily, I got one at the end.”

The women’s soccer Wolves also had a successful night, beating the Fanshawe Falcons 4-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. They were scheduled to face the Humber Hawks on Oct. 18 at the Algonquin Sports Field, with the women’s game at 12 p.m. and the men’s game at 3 p.m.