Canada Controls Game 3 and is Rewarded with Victory

October 31, 2009

By Omar Rawji

After losing game 2 to USA on a last minute penalty corner, a match that they felt they should have won, the Canadian men came out with a renewed sense of urgency on Saturday.  Despite controlling almost all aspects of the game, especially in the first half, it was a lot closer than they would’ve liked. 

The Americans capitalized on an early turnover in the fourth minute, as they countered quickly and Jon Ginolfi scored.  Canada’s Mark Pearson created a number of opportunities, and Connor Meakin had a disallowed goal on a high stick call. 

In the 27th minute, Canada’s tireless efforts finally paid off, and Keegan Pereira scored his first goal for the national squad, tying the game at one each.

“I was so happy when I saw it go in.  It was such a nice feeling,” said an elated Pereira after the match. “It tipped off Ian Smyth’s stick, I got it in the D, and I just hit it as hard as I could.”  Canada would take a 2-1 lead at the end of the first half on a penalty corner strike from Scott Tupper.

The Americans showed some fight in the second half, and they were rewarded with a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute.  Steven Mann shot the ball high stick side on the Canadian goalie, Geoff Houghton.  Houghton was playing in his first match since the team went to Russia at the end of June, and though he wasn’t tested much, he was solid in net.

Following the stroke, Canada pushed hard and created many scoring chances.  In the 50th minute, they were rewarded, and so was Philip Wright, who has been snake bitten of late. 

“It feels great.  It feels like it’s been a long time coming over the last month, so it’s nice that I finally got that one out of the way.”  The goal was a beauty – it came on a nice feed by Dave Jameson to Pearson who fooled the goalie into thinking he was going to shoot but passed it across to Wright for the finish, for what would turn out to be the game winning goal.

Coach Brahmst was pleased with the 3-2 victory, but he was not impressed with his team’s discipline, “We generated plenty more opportunities, but we gave up too many counters, and we didn’t manage that very well.”

Tomorrow, the four game series concludes with an 11 a.m. match at Wright Field. 

Scoring Summary: