CUC Men’s Aurora – Soccer Update

If you haven’t been to a CUC Men’s Soccer game lately, now is the time to do so.

While other sports teams at our school are struggling for victories, the men’s soccer team is leading their league in wins while also providing highlight reel goals. With ten wins and only five losses, the Aurora have been lighting up the scoreboard on a regular basis with 51 goals to count, including a team-leading eight coming from Stefan Sremac.

“There’s been a lot of improvement from the beginning of the year,” Stefan said following a 5-0 win over the Urban Knights earlier this month, “all the lines are scoring quite a bit and the defensemen are really stepping up.”

The team has had key contributions made from each member of the roster. Kyle Kay has scored six goals; Ricardo Mena, Lindsey Nycholat, Brad Lalonde, Daniel Zepick, and Fred Onsoti each have five; Matt Giguerre has tallied three; Tyler Ferguson, Tim Werner, and Landon Blize each have a pair; and Anthony Eisses and Anthony DaRocha have each registered one.

This team, however, isn’t just about scoring goals.

Kirk Baker, the goaltender for the CUC Aurora, has let in a league low 30 goals. With acrobatic saves and steady focus, Kirk has also been able to accumulate three shutouts along the way.

While the goal scoring is a definite bonus for the Aurora; Kirk has been the backbone of the team. He tends to go unnoticed, but that is usually what you want from a goalie, a position that typically gets more blame than praise. “He makes tons of saves,” Fred said of his goalie, “he keeps his head in the game; even if he gets roughed up he stays focussed.”

“Focus” is a word that can be used to describe any one of these players.

While not everyone on the team has scored a goal; everyone has been a part of the march towards a larger goal: winning the Red Deer Men’s Indoor Tier 2 championship. A goal that, with this group of guys, is very achievable.

Note: A video clip has been put together by Danny McCreery from a 5-3 victory over the Urban Knights. The clip can be found here.

—This article is to be published in the March 2007 edition of The Aurora Chronicles—