Kermodes Battle The Royals
The Douglas Royals welcome the Quest Kermodes in a very important match-up on Saturday
The men’s Game of the Week will be the final meeting of the season between the Douglas Royals and the Quest Kermodes, who will battle Saturday afternoon at 3:30pm at Towne Centre in Coquitlam.
In their last meeting the Kermodes collected a 1-0 shutout behind nine saves from Sam MacDonald and a second half goal off the boot of Nick Glavas.
In their first meeting to open the PACWEST season the teams finished with a 3-3 tie. The Royals found themselves down by a pair then scored in the 58th and 60th minutes to draw even. That game highlighted six different goal scorers.
The Royals (3-3-2) are coming off back to back wins over the Langara Falcons last weekend, their first wins since the middle of September. Tomi Fagopngbe, the rookie out of Burnaby caught fire scoring three goals in two games last weekend and now leads the Royals with four on the season. He was named the PACWEST Athlete of the Week. Quinn Dawson and Race Williams have each scored three times.
Royals head coach Robby Toor says, “It’s going to be another tough match with Quest this weekend as we continue to battle for playoff positioning. Our boys are finally healthy and ready for the home stretch of the season going into playoffs.”
On the other side of the pitch the Kermodes (2-5-1) have lost four straight and haven’t won since they beat the Royals on September 23rd. Their offence was shut down last weekend against Capilano, scoring just one goal in two games. Overall Glavas and Ahmed Kamal lead the offensive side with three goals apiece.
The road has not been kind to the Kermodes as they are still looking for their first road win of the season in four tries. As a matter of fact their only road points this year came out of their tie at Douglas in Week 1.
"Douglas is a talented squad with lots of young capable goal scorers,” says head coach Alex Elliott. “We will have to put focus on their wide attackers as they are talented players with pace. It’s important for us to stay grounded in this game, especially after having a few favorable results against Douglas so far this season."
Just four points separates the Royals and Kermodes in the standings, so Saturday afternoon is an important game.