It's midway through the Men's Soccer outdoor season and the Royals continue their best start in program history. After drawing the Niagara Knights on Saturday, the Royals are undefeated in the first 5 games of the season and have collected at least one point in every match.
With 11 points in 5 matches, the Royals hot start is record-breaking. While Redeemer teams have finished the season with more than 11 total points, no team has ever started this well. Redeemer's top finish over 10 matches came in 1990-1991 when the team went 4-3-3 and finished with 15 points. The Royals are just 4 points away from this record with half the season remaining. The next two best results for Redeemer came the previous two years (16-17, 17-18) with the team finishing with an identical 4-4-2 record, good enough for 14 points.
With the draw, the Royals stay above the Knights in 2nd place, two points behind the division-leading Falcons. All teams in the OCAA West have played 5 games heading into week 4 of the season.
Redeemer will look for win number 4 on Wednesday when they host the Mohawk Mountaineers. Last time out, the Royals found a way to secure a 2-1 victory over their rivals. Mohawk enters the match with a 1-4 record.
Redeemer's volleyball star turned goalkeeper has helped the Royals Men's Soccer team to their best start in program history.
Linden Bontkes has stared in all but the opener in his first season in net. After saving a penalty against Mohawk last Saturday in the 90th, minute to preserve the win, Bontkes followed it up with back-to-back shutouts including a road win Thursday against Lambton and a home draw against the CCAA #12 Knights on Saturday. Bontkes ends the week with 1 goal against in his 4 matches and a 0.960 save percentage.
Since taking over as Head Coach for the Royals last season,
Gad Espinosa has accumulated a 7-4-4 overall record. Over the two seasons so far, the program has won or drawn in 12 out of 16 matches.
