Despite holding control of the play in the second half the Olds College Broncos men's soccer team fell 2-1 to the Medicine Hat College Rattlers Sunday, Sept. 22.
Medicine Hat had the first good chance of the game eight minutes in when Abdou Raouf Mohamed attempted a header over Broncos keeper Ryan Murphy who lunged back and fisted the ball over the net and out of trouble.
Broncos Fabian Gromenida opened the scoring at 14:12 when Jacob McLarney made a nice pass to Gromemida who popped the ball over Medicine Hat goalie Joao Vitor Duz Batista to give the Broncos the 1-0 lead.
Thirteen minutes later Medicine Hat had a powerful response when Abdou Raouf Mohamed was sent in from Julian Sanchez and powered a ball with a lazer of a shot past Murphy.
Mohamed scored another goal at the 38th minute off a penalty shot after there was a foul in the Broncos box.
With two minutes left Fabian Gromenida had a free kick that he put around the MHC wall, but Duz Batista made a brilliant outstretched save.
The shots were even in the first half with Broncos goalie Murphy making five saves and Medicine Hat keeper Duz Batista making seven saves.
14 minutes into the second half Broncos Oliyad Abera had a great chance but out the ball just wide. Gromenida had another great chance a few minutes later but was at a strong angle and was denied by the Rattlers keeper.
At the 19th minutes of the second half Medicine Hat had a penalty kick after a foul in the Broncos box and Murphy made a fantastic diving save to keep the score within one.
The Broncos responded to the huge save by controlling the play for the remainder of the game, but Medicine Hat was able to keep them from getting quality shots on goal until injury time where Duz Batista made an incredible save on Broncos Jacob McLarney off an Abu Bangura corner.
Player of the Game for Medicine Hat was defender Tom Bernhardt and the Pit Barbecue Player of the Game for the Broncos was defender and team captain Brendan Klassen.
Shots were 27-17 for the Broncos with Olds goalie Ryan Murphy making eight saves and Medicine Hat's Joao Vitor Duz Batista making 12 saves.
To learn more about Olds College, the Olds College Broncos and the soccer teams go to gobroncos.ca; like the Facebook page and follow @OldsBroncos on Twitter and Instagram.