Macky Singh, the new coach of the Portage College men’s and women’s soccer and futsal teams, was pleased with the efforts during the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Futsal championships, that Portage hosted at Lac La Biche’s Bold Centre over the March 8 weekend.
Although the men’s and women’s teams didn’t qualify for the championships that drew the top three teams from each of the north and south ACAC divisions, the men’s Voyageur team did compete as the host team. Singh said the team started strong and was well-prepared both mentally and physically.
“The lads were ready for the weekend,” Singh told Lakeland This Week.
The team won their first game handily, beating the eventual bronze-medal-winning Olds College Broncos 6-2. Portage lost their next game to Ambrose College 4-3 in a match that needed overtime to determine the winner. They lost their last game 4-0 to the eventual ACAC champion Keyano College.
Singh said the Voyageur squad, despite only playing as the host, looked comfortable playing against the league’s top teams. He said the team had worked on discipline and keeping a positive outlook during the games. Their work on defense and attack systems was also working well.
“I feel the men’s team did fairly decent starting with a comprehensive 6-2 win against Olds College,” he said.
The Portage women’s futsal team didn’t compete in the championships.
Looking back on both teams through the futsal season which began at the end of 2023 and consisted of three tournament weekends leading up to the championships, Singh said the teams show improvement.
Singh said the men’s team performed well, adding that the players understood the importance of team unity and discipline to achieve success.
“There were clear improvements and positive progression being made over the course of the three events,” he said.
As for the women’s team, Singh said that they also demonstrated positive improvements between the first and second qualifiers. However, injuries and a small playing squad hindered further potential progression of the team.
Regarding the upcoming fall outdoor soccer season, Singh, who was brought on as coach in January, says he will have more time to prepare both teams as well as recruit more student-athletes to strengthen and increase the number of players on the rosters.
“As the players get comfortable with my coaching style, culture shift and embrace the competitive preparedness and expectations, I feel we will continue to improve positively and move in the right direction,” he said, adding that the soccer program continues to be a work in progress, and it will still take one or two years to build a foundation designed to eventually achieve success on the field and the court.
