Langston, Vikings blank Spartans

Lucas Langston saw an opportunity and didn’t think twice.

The 16-year-old wing for the Vincent Massey Vikings was due for a goal and chose not to wait any longer as he pounced on a turnover from the opposition and buried a right-footed touch past goalkeeper Devin Lucas en route to a 3-0 victory over the Neelin Spartans during Brandon High School Soccer League boys action at Neelin on Wednesday.

“That was probably my first goal in like five years or something, so it felt pretty good,” said Langston with a chuckle post-game. “Their defender just missed the turn, I guess and didn’t have a touch on it, so I just had a simple touch past him, and then their keeper was too far in, so I had the wide post open and shot it.”

Langston, who’s in his third season with the black and purple, notched his insurance marker off Yusuf Eltawil’s defensive fumble with just a few minutes to spare in a first half that was dominated by the visitors. Massey controlled the pace of play from the get-go with its aggression and it proved to be too much for Neelin to handle, as the only times it wasn’t scrambled in its own end was when Lucas booted the ball downfield in hopes of kickstarting a hailmary game plan.

The Vikings had chance after chance, but Lucas proved to be up to the task until striker Timi Fadare was awarded a penalty kick after being tripped up by Emil Magnaye inside the Spartans box.

Fadare looked calm and collected and showed it with a beautiful finish after lazering one home in the bottom left corner to give his team a 1-0 lead midway through the half.

“We started off really strong and we didn’t have a ball really get through us and even if the ball went through, we didn’t really allow much of a shot on net,” said Langston of his squad’s suffocating play. “Our back line and midfield helped control the game plenty and we were spreading out wide to our wings to cover more space so it was good to see.”

After some more offensive pressure, Langston’s flash of individual skill handed Massey a two goal cushion and some more momentum heading into the second half, which was no different than the first.

The Vikings speed and agility didn’t slow down and it continued to be a problem for their opponents, who were clearly panicking and mindlesly kicking the ball away when pressure came their way. The Spartans then got bit on another turnover in their own end when Fadare pick pocketed Eltawil and then got tripped up again by a trailing defender. He chalked up his second of the game to make it 3-0 for Massey off another penalty kick, where this time he chose to shoot to Lucas’s right corner.

Neelin had a few chances in the late stages of the second half but its best chance was on a penalty kick of its own. However, Parker Cels came up huge after making a spectacular diving save on Robinson Diaz, who still managed to get a strong kick off but couldn’t execute.

“I’ve played with him for 5 years, maybe and that might be the first penalty I ever seen him save,” joked Langston. “He did really well for himself and was phenomenal. It was just a great save.”

Cels slamming the door was a not so subtle way of describing the entire game, as the Spartans gave it everything they got but just couldn’t make it happen against a strong Vikings squad, who improved to 2-0 after beating Crocus 2-1 in the season opener on Monday.

Massey looks like a complete team from the top down, but its MVP so far has undoubtedly been Fadare, who is now up to four goals after collecting a pair in both contests. Langston said while they still have a lot of work ahead of them, he believes his team has what it takes to win it all now that they’ve seen the competition.

“I think we should be pretty confident in ourselves,” he said. “I feel we still have a long way to grow in the season with a fairly young roster, heavily with Grade 11s, but I feel we are on the right path to doing fairly well this season and hopefully a city final win for us.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com