The Impact U21s are riding into tonight’s game against the Outremont Griffons in TMR, at 7pm, on a high note. The team is coming off some good performances in recent weeks, going undefeated in its last three pre-season games.
The latest victory was a 1-0 triumph in Burlington, last Saturday, over the University of Vermont, a strong NCAA division-1 side. The team put in an all-around solid performance, aside from a 20-minute stretch to end the first half.
“When we respected our identity, we dominated the game on a technical and tactical level against Vermont,” said Impact U21 head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “We lost to this team last year, so to see the progress we’ve made was good. It was also a good learning experience for us. If we move away from what we’ve established as our identity, we won’t be successful. That’s what happened towards the end of the first half after dominating at the start, and then again in the second half.”
The U21 coach applauded the individual performances of some of his players, but he truly feels that the team’s success comes from buying into the system.
“Defender Karl Ouimette, midfielder Wandrille Lefevre and forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel all had strong showings, but we played a solid team game by doing what makes us effective.”
The U21 side was coming off of an equally strong performance on April 4 in Rochester against the Rhinos, the USL Pro (3rd division) side, tying the Rhinos 1-1.
Impact soccer day in St. Jean
Sandwiched in between these two performances was a match in St. Jean sur Richelieu against the Ligue Elites’s second division side Celtix Haut-Richelieu, a game that the Impact won 9-1.
The 6pm Impact U21 matchup was the main event of a three game soccer festival held at Stade du Haut-Richelieu, with the Impact as special guest opponents. The Impact U16 team played the Celtix U18 squad to a 3-2 loss at 2pm. Then, at 4pm, the Impact U18s beat the Celtix U21s by a 5-2 score.
New faces with the first team
Last week, 12 players from the Impact’s pro roster made the trip to Toronto to play in an MLS Reserve League game. Academy members also contributed to the 2-1 victory: Ouimette, Lefevre and Jackson-Hamel all made the trip. With half the roster out of town, Alessandro Riggi and Stefan Vukovic trained with the first team.
Riggi was impressive at practice with the pros, being called one of the best players at training by RDS analyst and former Impact player Patrick Leduc via Twitter. Vukovic, who scored against the University of Vermont and set up Riggi for his marker against the Rhinos, also took part in training. He is currently on a trial with the Impact after being released by Toronto FC.
CSL’s First Game of 2012
Although the season calendar has not yet been finalized, the Impact U21s are set to open the 2012 Canadian Soccer League season on May 13 at 2pm, versus the York Region Shooters, at Collège Saint-Jean Vianney. Details will be unveiled on the Impact website once available.
BOXSCORE:
April 7:
Montreal Impact Academy vs Celtix Haut-Richelieu (9-1)
GOALS:
Alessandro Riggi (3)
Stefan Vukovic (2)
Mircea Ilcu (2)
Maxime Tissot
Own goal
ASSISTS:
Kevin Luarca (2)
Stefan Vukovic (2)
Anthony Jackson-Hamel (2)
Hugo Lapointe-Sénécal
Maxime Tissot
April 14:
Montreal Impact Academy vs University of Vermont (1-0)
GOAL:
Stefan Vukovic
ASSIST:
Anthony Jackson-Hamel
NEXT GAMES:
- Tonight, 7pm, vs Outremont Griffons (AAA), in TMR
- May 3, 8:30pm, vs Arsenal de l’Assomption (Semi-Pro), at College St. Jean Vianney
