Another week, another win for the Selkirk Strikeforce, who are off to a perfect start in the Manitoba Major Soccer League’s Division 3B.
Winning has been Strikeforce’s only result so far through three games, as the club improved to 3-0 on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Thunder FC at Buhler Recreation Park.
Another early-season trend for the team is hat tricks leading them to victory.
On Wednesday, it was Evan Bedard netting all three Strikeforce goals—marking the third straight game in which a Strikeforce player has recorded a hat trick.
Bedard joins Aaron Bell and Erick Medina as the three Strikeforce players to notch hat tricks so far this season.
“We changed our tactics, and we kind of go all out and it involves a lot of attack, and it’s usually the three guys up front, and the three guys can be subbed on or off or whatever, but they just keep bringing it over and over and it’s coming from multiple different people during the game at all times which makes us very dangerous and it’s easy for them,” said Strikeforce head coach and midfielder Jordan Bruenig. “It could be someone else the next game, or they could split it up the next game after that, but we’re creating a lot of chances, so the goals come with the chances.”
Strikeforce took the early lead before Thunder FC tied it up 1-1 heading into halftime.
Bedard then scored his second and third goals early in the second half, providing the team with some much-needed insurance.
Playing with a second-half lead in all three games has allowed Strikeforce to work on closing out matches—still with an offensive mindset.
“What I always tell our guys is to play with confidence,” said Bruenig. “Always take a chance, always take a shot even when you don’t think it’s that good of a chance, take the shot, take the chance, because if I can get to our team to create 10 plus chances a game, we’re definitely going to score some of them like we have. Same with Evan (Bedard), even if he misses one, I’m usually pretty confident on the field, telling him to get the next one out there, the next one out there will be a goal, or it’s just it comes with the chances and we create a lot of them. It’s never an issue for the team because we just go on to the next moment, we create another chance, and again, we’ve created many.”
The victory keeps Strikeforce in top spot in Div. 3B. Their 12 goals currently lead the division.
They’ll face another high-powered offence in their next match on June 2 when they take on Triumph, who have scored eight goals through three games.
The match will also serve as Strikeforce’s home opener as they prepare to play their next three games at Selkirk Recreation Complex Field.
“I don’t think we’ll change the approach very much,” said Bruenig. “Obviously we have to be more aware defensively and we have not had an opponent where we’ve struggled with yet so playing defensively is up in the air for us, but again, I’ve always told the guys I’m comfortable winning a shootout, a 5-4 game. A team like that doesn’t scare us at all. If they’re going to score one, we’re going to score one, and hopefully we’ll keep our good defensive record, which we only have conceded three goals in three games and our defence is pretty solid. We have one of our new guys there, Erick Medina, is like our solid. He’s played every minute at centre-back, and he’s really good at controlling the game back there. It’s another, probably thing that contributes to our victories as well so I don’t think we’ll have an issue with a team that scores goals. We’ll just bring it to them, create more chances kind of thing, hopefully.”
Kickoff from Selkirk on Monday, June 2 is set for 7:30 p.m.
The following two matches will also kick off at 7:30 p.m.—on Wednesday, June 11 against Wasps, and Monday, June 16 against Maples FC.-30-
