The men's and women's soccer teams from Portage College had very similar seasons in the standings, and finished their last games of the season with similar scores — both losing by 9-1 scores against the visiting Keyano College Huskies on Sunday at the Bold Center Sports Field.
The season-ending home game losses for the men's and women's teams wrapped up a 12-game winless season in the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference for both Voyageur squads.The men's side did manage a tie in their Saturday afternoon away game against the Concordia Thunder, but the season's stats left each team in last place of their respective divisions and disqualified from the league playoffs which begin next week.
Team officials on both squads say the young teams have had a learning year and have maintained a positive outlook. The Portage soccer program is one of the newest in the ACAC, fielding their first teams in the 2019-2020 season, prior to the COVID-cancelled 2020-21 season and a shortened season last year.
Recruiting and continued training is expected to increase the team's performance next season.
This year, the women's team generated only 8 goals in their 12 matches, and allowing 82 goals against. The Voyageurs men's team score 14 goals in their season, and allowed 78.
The Keyano College men's team will roll from their win in Lac La Biche to league playoffs starting on this week. The Huskies, NAIT, Lakeland and The Kings College were the top four teams of the ACAC's seven-team northern division to make the playoff round. On the women's side, the Huskies will also be heading to playoffs along with teams from Northwestern Polytechnic, Concordia and NAIT.
Futsal is next
With the ACAC outdoor soccer season winding down, the indoor season of soccer — futsal — will begin at the end of November with league games beginning next semester. Last season, the Portage men's futsal team put its first-ever team into the ACAC futsal league ... and finished in fourth place overall, losing the championship bronze medal match to Lethbridge 5-4. Last year's Portage women's futsal team — also in their fledgling season — didn't make it to the playoff round.
