Hamilton, ON- It was something they had drawn up and practised. It was a coordinated play between the McMaster Marauders front-line of Amir Shirazi, Sachin Sargeant and Cristian Alfieri. They worked on it in training.
Then, when game day came around, they executed it. The Marauders men’s soccer team was facing the Guelph Gryphons at home on Oct. 7. McMaster was coming off two losses to the York Lions and were fighting in the battle atop the OUA West.
They stayed positive, according to McMaster head coach Tristan Joyce. They came into the Guelph game with a focused mindset, according to defender Justin Wood. “You don’t want to go down more points in the league,” Wood said. “Right now, the standings are really tight so every game really matters.”
The winning goal for this game would come in the 12th minute. Sargeant swung the ball out to Shirazi out wide. Shirazi then crossed it in where Alfieri finished it.
Then, the Marauders defended, with Guelph creating chances inside the box in the first half. However, centre backs Jameel Durhan and Evan Mitchell dealt with them. As did goalkeeper Ethan Cagalj.
Joyce said the backline deals really well with mistakes. They learn from them right away.
After halftime, McMaster went on the attack more. The front line generated chances and continued to apply pressure as Guelph went down to 10 players following a red card in the 82nd minute. “We did a good job of regrouping at halftime and making sure we locked it down defensively,” Wood said.
The Marauders prevailed with a 1-0 victory.
Sargeant was a key part of many of those chances. The forward made some passes for goal scoring opportunities as well as firing it on net a couple of times himself.
He describes himself as a quiet person that doesn’t like to speak much. However, Joyce has seen how his confidence has grown over the past year.
“He’s unbelievable,” Joyce added. “He keeps the ball so well. Can beat players. Can whip in really good crosses on his left foot…and his right foot.”
Sargeant said he’s been working on his confidence. He’s focused on working hard in training and doing the right things, which helps his confidence in games.
You can see it even with small details in practises. “Maybe taking that extra touch or showing for the ball when I wouldn’t have last year,” he noted. “Little things like that that can help the team.”
Last year, Joyce saw him be passive in training, passing the ball off. Not doing everything he could do.
“This year, he’s just killing it,” Joyce noted. The coach mentioned how Sargeant’s been clinical in training, how he trains hard every day and takes care of his body.
“On the field, it’s translated,” he added. “Maybe the goal and assist numbers aren’t there but he impacts the game every single day and I know other teams key in and watch on him.”
Sargeant points out how he, Shirazi and Alfieri have been gaining chemistry as the season’s gone along. He’s played with Shirazi for a long time and said Alfieri’s doing well scoring goals. “We all know what our tendencies are now,” he said.
McMaster now goes into a bye week, with their next game not coming until Oct. 20 when they host the Windsor Lancers. Wood said the timing is really good with a lot of the players banged up and tired after this stretch of games. It will allow them to get some rest and recovery.
“It comes at the perfect moment,” Joyce said. “We’re really hitting our stride in terms of we now know every game what we’re going to give, what’s good and what we need to work on.”
A main thing they need to work on? Creating and finishing more of those chances – like they did for the goal against Guelph.
“We could have created so many more of those chances,” Joyce said. “We did a lot better today, getting the ball to the final third, receiving with our head up facing forward. They’re just missing the runs to really get the chances on that.”
A key part of improving on that comes from player preparation – more specifically, individual player video reviews. The Marauders can have team-wide film sessions but they can’t individualize everything during that, according to Joyce.
It comes down to players watching tape of themselves. It’ll be important in the bye week, the following games and the playoffs.
“I think them watching their own performance and coming with questions will be the real real game changer,” Joyce said.
Featured Image: Kevin Lassel/McMaster Athletics