Bobcats grab two titles, win at nationals

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This article was published 04/01/2024 (727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Losses hit differently when a team grows accustomed to avoiding them.

Winning is the expectation and anything less is a shock when it happens. For the Brandon University Bobcats men’s soccer team, championships became the standard. They went into 2023 on a gut-wrenching low and one goal — to never feel like they did on Oct. 30, 2022.

“It definitely felt like a year-long revenge tour,” said co-captain Nathan Chubaty. “As BU Bobcats, we’re always the team to beat and going into 2023, we had to show everyone why that is.”

They did, with a dominant run through the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference futsal season to defend their title. Brandon started the soccer season hot, stumbled in the middle and regained composure in time to reclaim the championship and become the first Manitoba team to win a game at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament, where a few short years ago, the league wasn’t considered good enough to deserve a spot.

For two league titles and a first victory on the national stage, the Bobcats are the Brandon Sun’s Mike Jones team of the year.

SOMETHING TO PROVE

The 2023 season, in a way, started in 2022 in a tent beside the Sportsplex field.

The Bobcats sat there long after a furious comeback bid fell short. BU trailed the St. Boniface Les Rouges 4-1 with just four minutes to go in regular time but netted two quick goals and pushed for the equalizer. Les Rouges were saved by the official’s three whistles for full-time.

Chubaty and Camilo Rodriguez fell to the turf and watched a celebration, which at this point felt like a Bobcat rite of passage. The last time BU hadn’t hoisted that trophy was 2018, a season it dominated from the start and did everything but put the finishing touch on.

Its only saving grace was being in a unique league, which offers two seasons for soccer players.

The Bobcats quickly shifted to the gymnasium for the five-on-five indoor game.

In some ways, futsal is close-quarters soccer. But it can also feel like an entirely different sport. Fundamentally sound centre-backs who lack quickness can control a big field with communication and decision-making, but they find it tough to keep up with small, shifty players on the hardwood with just a few feet of space to dribble and pass.

While a team needs close to 11 quality players to succeed outside, they can get by with five or six in futsal. That makes the MCAC significantly more competitive indoors than outdoors.

Players used to 90-minute games can handle 50, even at futsal’s faster pace, but BU had the luxury of never needing to shorten the bench that much.

“We ran three lines of basically 13, 14 guys playing almost equal minutes and showed that next man up, everyone’s ready to go, we have full confidence instilled in everyone,” Chubaty said.

The Bobcats attribute their depth and skill in the game to a few things. For one, they have a steady dose of Brazilian talent between goalkeeper Matheus Souza, Matheus Ruffini and Victor Andrade.

Back home, they play futsal before soccer so their understanding of the game is a whole lot better than one who first plays in university.

The majority of the team also plays and trains a fair bit more than just with each other in a few leagues, including Brandon’s Latino Soccer League.

Some of them, including veteran midfielder Zach Wood, train weekly with a team that’s trying to represent Manitoba at the Futsal Canadian Championships in April.

So they were hungry, they were ready, and the rest of the MCAC didn’t stand a chance.

FUTSAL RUN

The Bobcats started with 7-3 and 6-4 wins over the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers and Les Rouges, respectively, then beat the Assiniboine Community College Cougars 8-1 and Providence Pilots 4-3 to sweep the first half of the season.

Their first and only hiccup came on home court on Feb. 4 when CMU eked out a 2-2 draw, but BU bounced back to down USB 3-2. It then walloped ACC 8-0 and Providence 10-0 to lock down the top seed.

The Bobcats rolled over the Cougars 8-1 to reach the final.

“They had a good team too. Every team has a chance to win as long as you have four good players,” Wood said.

“We beat them 8-1 but after the first half, it was 2-1 or 3-1. They were right in it but just didn’t have any subs and ran out of gas.

“We have three lines that can play, whereas most teams only have one. Not trying to disrespect other teams but it matters that we have 12.”

That set up the final everyone was waiting for. BU and USB met for the second straight final in the academic year, so it was almost the same lineups from the outdoor season squaring off.

Les Rouges struck first but Bryson Haywood and Ruffini gave the Bobcats a first-half lead, both on bad turnovers by their opponent.

USB tied it 2-2 late in the first half.

It was tied 3-3 with 10 minutes to go when Haywood struck again.

Brandon defended the lead desperately and tried to bleed out the clock but allowed a gutting equalizer with 10 seconds to go.

While giving up four goals in a soccer game would frustrate a goalkeeper to no end, Souza knows it’s simply the nature of playing a fast-paced game against a talented opponent.

“You’re going to concede goals in futsal. It’s a different pace, different style, it’s almost impossible to keep a clean sheet in futsal so you got to keep that in mind and do your best,” Souza said. “You can bounce back from that.”

In extra time, Camilo Rodriguez headed in a long throw from Souza to go ahead and Sam Wetstein doubled the lead by jumping on a bad pass in front of the USB net.

Les Rouges got one back in the second half of extra time but Andrade restored the two-goal lead on a header with three minutes left.

Again, USB drew level, this time with 81 seconds to go.

Cue the final shot of Wetstein’s career — a sure-footed blast just inside the left post in the final minute of his final game.

8-7. Full time.

“Our effort and hard work was tremendous that whole futsal run. We never gave up, always fought back and to play in a final like that, that’s probably the greatest, most thrilling final I’ll ever play in my life,” Chubaty said.

“For it to be as poetic as it was, for Sam to score the game-winner with 30-odd seconds left, it was a great cap for our season and resembled our futsal season in general of how much grit we had, how much determination and were never quick to give up.”

“That was the craziest game I’ve ever played in,” added Wood.

“It was pretty much a movie. We lost to those guys in the finals in outdoor. It’s Sam’s last season, he scores the winning goal in overtime with 30 seconds left.

“The fans were just loud. You couldn’t even talk in timeouts. That was incredible actually.”

JOB NOT FINISHED

While the futsal season is competitive and at times more intense than soccer due to the small playing surface, 99 per cent of MCAC players will tell you if they could win one title, it’d be the one in October.

There’s a lot more at stake too, since the winner of the last three soccer seasons has earned a trip to CCAA nationals.

Brandon was the first one in 2021, beating CMU 4-0 and heading to Calgary where it failed to win or score a goal.

Les Rouges finished dead last in 2022 and had a solid lineup heading into 2023, but not one the Bobcats were remotely intimidated by.

They still felt they were the best team and for those who weren’t convinced, they went to Red Deer, Alta., and drew the Medicine Hat Rattlers 2-2, then stomped the Northwestern Polytechnic Wolves 8-2 and Red Deer Kings 4-0.

A few years ago, those results would have been absolutely stunning for a Manitoba team.

Chubaty quickly knew the team had potential.

“It’s huge as a team to be able to have guys like Camilo, who’s won back-to-back MVPs now or at the top we had additions of Yagi (Ndefreke Akpan) and Edwin (Ali) providing offensive threats, even having our midfield step up into play with Ruffini and Zach this year,” he said.

“Defensively, myself and Victor A and the improvement of guys like Victor Lamb and Carter Wiebe stepping up even at nationals.

“You just become a dual threat as a team when you know no matter what on any given day, any one of us can step up.”

The Bobcats opened the regular season with a 1-1 draw against Les Rouges, then beat the Cougars 5-1 and tied the Pilots 5-5.

They rattled off three wins before another draw, 2-2 with the Blazers.

Brandon led all three ties until late in the second half.

“Even games we tied at the start of the season, that game against Prov we tied 5-5, they didn’t have any business being in the game.

“Teams came close but no one broke the Bobcats until the following week when CMU delivered a 1-0 stunner on Oct. 8. BU bounced back with two wins the following weekend, then lost 2-1 to CMU and 5-2 to Providence on the final weekend to cough up the No. 1 seed.

“It’s a completely different team, a lot more organized,” Wood said of Providence. “A lot of teams caught up to us and we really had to bring it during the final four to even make it to nationals.”

In a strange twist, Les Rouges had to self-declare the use of ineligible players during the 2023 season, forfeiting the first six games and dropping to the bottom of the standings. They climbed back to fourth, past ACC, but Brandon wouldn’t have the chance to eliminate the squad that ended its season a year prior.

PLAYERS ONLY

The Bobcats hadn’t lost back-to-back games in Manitoba since Sept. 18, 2021.

They were shocked and nervous as they likely needed to avenge both losses to reach their goal.

Chubaty and Rodriguez, the co-captains, had talked about the BU way, the culture set forth by past teams and the emphasis on playing for each other. They had a players-only meeting following the loss at Providence to face some harsh truths.

“We were playing almost for ‘me’ instead of ‘we,’” Chubaty said. “We know we have the talent, we just need to put it together.”

Added Souza: “Some players were just playing for themselves and we realized that and were like ‘No, this is a sports team. It’s a collective sport and we play as a team. We cannot play for ourselves.’”

Souza had extra reasons to be excited for the final four — he had to watch from the sidelines last time. The goalkeeper was injured in the final game of the 2022 regular season, one he could have rested for with first place locked up.

He worked hard on his fitness and took care of his body as much as he could to ensure his place in the lineup in 2023.

FINAL FOUR

The players had to stay ready for any sort of weather on championship weekend, as they have come to expect playing soccer in Manitoba in late October.

But this time, snow and ice buildup at Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex in Winnipeg left the fields unplayable and forced the league into backup plans.

The decision was ultimately to move to Winnipeg’s two regulation-sized indoor pitches and hold the games on a Monday and Tuesday, instead of Saturday and Sunday.

The Bobcats couldn’t have waited any longer, it seemed, as Rodriguez shot out of a cannon to start the semifinal and scored in the first minute against CMU.

Ruffini doubled the lead late in the first half, before the Blazers drew a penalty kick and Osama Ali buried it.

BU’s defence didn’t need any more help, playing 45 minutes of scoreless soccer to reach the final.

The title game featured two even stingier defensive efforts and the Bobcats and Pilots hardly surrendered any good chances through the first hour.

Rodriguez, of course, was the one to change it. He drew a whistle in the penalty area and hammered the spot kick home for the game’s lone goal.

Naturally, the keeper who gave up just one goal in 180 minutes, a PK at that, was named final four MVP.

“It was perfect because as a player you love to play, you always want to play and last year I couldn’t play,” Souza said. “I was suffering watching my team lose the final and it is heartbreaking because you always want to be part of it.”

You can look to the play of the defenders and Souza or Rodriguez up front creating and scoring on his chances, but Chubaty is quick to point out his X-factor.

“Without Bryson (Haywood), we’re not the same,” he said of his midfielder, who injured his ankle in warmups a few weeks earlier and was out for both losses, returning just in time for the playoffs.

“We play better when he’s in the starting 11. He doesn’t get enough recognition as he deserves and I know he’s going to show out in futsal. He had an underrated futsal season as well.”

Looking back, McNabb said this group was special. Its commitment to training, holding each other accountable and chasing wins made it a fun environment to coach in. While he’s been part of some near-perfect Bobcat runs, he looks at the lack of perfection as something that helped in the long run.

“We had some games where we were up and ended up tying, games we lost, games we lost to teams we shouldn’t have lost to. Those teams were the ones we beat in the final four and sometimes teams need to have some adversity,” McNabb said.

“When you experience adversity, you have one of two choices, either you can let it destroy you or use that opportunity to make you stronger. They used that opportunity to make them stronger, they were more determined than ever to win the final four and they did.”

NATIONALS

It wasn’t all good news for the Bobcats as they booked their trip to Windsor, Ont.

Ruffini was sent off for a second yellow card in the semifinal, a game Andrade left early in the first half with an ankle injury.

Both had choice Portuguese words for the referee following Ruffini’s dismissal and soon discovered the official was fluent in the language.

Andrade received a straight red card, and the comments both made were included in a report that led to six- and seven-match suspensions.

That cost them the entire run, which would at most have spanned four games.

However, BU’s next-man-up mentality meant Minnedosa native Victor Lamb, who filled in for Andrade beside Chubaty at the back would stay there at nationals and leave with the team’s first-ever CCAA tournament all-star award.

“His change from ’22 to ’23 was profound,” McNabb said. “He was the first one at practice, he was always at the early morning workouts, he took whatever information and feedback we had for him and worked on it.”

The Bobcats had a tough first test in Windsor, against the PacWest champion Douglas College Royals.

They eventually won the crown and BU saw why in a 5-0 blowout that Souza couldn’t have done much to prevent.

“It was a tough game. Conceding five goals in a game, that’s awful for the whole team, not just the goalie,” Souza said.

“Douglas, they were way better than us, more prepared and used to that level. They had a good game, they had good players and I did what I could but some shots are impossible to save. I think I had 10 saves that game.”

BU played Keyano College in the bronze quarterfinals, knowing two wins would give it a chance to play for a podium finish.

The Huskies extended BU’s goalless drought at nationals with a 2-0 triumph.

“I had even more saves, I had 15. That’s crazy. That’s my record. We should have won that game and we could have,” Souza said.

While some teams may have mailed it in for the seventh-place game, the Bobcats still had a goal to chase. They needed to end the season with a victory.

“Everybody was taking it seriously, everybody was in bed at a good time, it was a good goal to keep us focused throughout the whole tournament,” Wood said.

They battled the University of Kings College Blue Devils to 2-2 in regulation time and extended the match to penalty kicks.

Souza had a good feeling about that.

“I’ve won every penalty shootout ever. We’re not losing this one,” he told his team. “I’ll save at least one, you boys just got to hit the net and score all the goals.”

They stepped up and did just that, with Frank Adjei putting the finishing touch on his last-ever soccer game for BU.

“That’s typical of him,” Wood said. “He’s always going to score a big goal and he wouldn’t miss that. There’s no one I would trust more than Frank to score that penalty.”

Wood noted the biggest difference in that game was BU changed its formation halfway through in favour of a more offensive-minded approach. It was the first time the Bobcats controlled possession of the ball all weekend and it led to the all-important goals.

Like that, the Bobcats and the MCAC inched closer to the unfathomable idea of a Manitoba team winning this tournament one day.

“It meant quite a bit. It was just a placement game but what we said before the game is we are doing it for our seniors, for the people that won’t be able to wear a Bobcat jersey again. We went out there and just gave it our all,” Rodriguez said.

“Instead of worrying about needing to win, we decided to enjoy the moment and got the win we wanted.”

The Bobcats enjoyed the rest of their time on the road and reflected on an incredible year. Chubaty said it was just that week, though. They’re on to 2024 already. The Brandonite already checked and found out next year’s nationals are in Fredericton.

Now that we’ve seen how these Bobcats respond to losses, it might be best to let them have this futsal title, or they’ll risk standing in the way of a war path from Brandon to New Brunswick.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5

 

PAST WINNERS
2023 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s soccer
2022 — Brandon AAA under-15 Wheat Kings, hockey
2021 — Brandon Wheat Kings, hockey
2020 — Assiniboine CC, women’s hockey
2019 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s volleyball
2018 — Minnedosa Chancellors/Rivers Rams, girls’ rugby
2017 — Neelin Spartans, boys’ volleyball and basketball
2016 — Brandon Wheat Kings, hockey
2015 — Lois Fowler team, curling
2014 — Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers, figure skating
2013 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s volleyball
2012 — Neelin Spartans, girls volleyball
2011 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s volleyball
2010 — Brandon Tri-Star Storm, women’s volleyball
2009 — Westman Wildcats, hockey
2008 — Crocus Plainsmen, girls basketball and volleyball
2007 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball, and Brandon Cloverleafs, baseball
2006 — Terry McNamee team, curling
2005 — Crocus Plainsmen, hockey
2004 — Brandon AAA Midget Wheat Kings, hockey
2003 — Club West Rage, girls volleyball
2002 — Crocus Plainsmen, girls volleyball
2001 — Mike McEwen team, Linda Van Daele team, curling
2000 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1999 — Crocus Plainsmen, boys volleyball
1998 — Lois Fowler team, curling; Mike McEwen team, curling; Lisa Roy team, curling; Doug Armour team, curling; Rob Fowler team, curling
1997 — Neepawa Farmers, baseball
1996 — Brandon Wheat Kings, hockey, and Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1995 — Brandon Wheat Kings, hockey
1994 — Brandon Cloverleafs, baseball
1993 — Maureen Bonar team, curling
1992 — Boissevain Broncos, boys basketball
1991 — Maxine Heritage team, curling
1990 — Duane Edwards team, curling
1989 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1988 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1987 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1986 — Vincent Massey Vikings, girls basketball
1985 — Vincent Massey Vikings, girls basketball
1984 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1983 — Mabel Mitchell team, curling
1982 — Mel Logan team, curling
1981 — Cec Leach/Petey Two, retrieving
1980 — Brandon University Bobcats, men’s basketball
1979 — Brandon Wheat Kings, hockey
1978 — Riverside Canucks, baseball
1977 — Brandon Wheat Kings, hockey
1976 — Deloraine Royals, hockey
1975 — Vincent Massey Vikings, girls basketball
1974 — Don Barr team, curling