The Algoma University Thunderbirds women’s and men’s soccer programs faced a challenging opening weekend to the 2026 OUA season, hitting the road for a pair of games against two established programs.

On August 28th and 29th, the Thunderbirds travelled to Hamilton and Guelph, opening the weekend against the McMaster Marauders at Ron Joyce Stadium before meeting the Guelph Gryphons on August 29th at the Guelph Gryphons Soccer Complex.

While both Algoma teams returned home without a victory, the men’s program saw plenty of positives to build on, including a strong second-day effort and a late goal from substitute Dah Soe.

Women’s Team Faces Tough Opening Weekend

The Algoma women opened the season August 28th against McMaster at Ron Joyce Stadium, falling 7-0 to the Marauders.

Carolina Trs of Biberbach, Germany, got the start in goal for Algoma.

The Thunderbirds then travelled to Guelph on August 29th to face the Gryphons, dropping a 9-0 decision.

Paisley Pennington was between the pipes for Algoma.

The Thunderbirds managed one shot in the contest, with Kay Tones recording Algoma’s lone attempt.

Despite the two difficult results, the opening weekend provides valuable experience for a young Thunderbirds program as the team prepares for its upcoming home dates.

Men’s Team Shows Fight Against Guelph

The Algoma men opened their season against McMaster on August 28th, falling 3-0 at Ron Joyce Stadium.

Josh Bondac started in goal for the Thunderbirds, facing six shots and making three saves.

Algoma generated opportunities of its own, with Luc MacDonald, Lilian Benjamin, Anthony Berganza and Ivan Romanchak each recording one shot.

The Thunderbirds then made the trip to Guelph the following day, where they faced the Gryphons at the Guelph Gryphons Soccer Complex.

Guelph came away with a 5-1 victory, but Algoma continued to compete throughout the match and found the back of the net late.

Anthony Berganza took over in goal for the Thunderbirds, facing eight shots and making five saves.

Theo Hampton, Elliot Swenarchuk, Nicholas Stefansson and Dah Soe each recorded a shot for Algoma, with Soe providing the Thunderbirds’ lone goal of the weekend.

Soe’s goal was assisted by Calen Boobay.

Andreychuk: “There’s a Lot of Fight in This Group”

Algoma men’s head coach Dave Andreychuk said the biggest positive he took from the opening weekend was the response and competitiveness of his young team.

“The biggest positive for me was the response and the competitiveness of the group,” said Andreychuk. “We knew coming into the opening weekend that we were facing two very strong, established programs, and at this level good teams punish you when you make mistakes. That happened to us at times.”

Andreychuk was particularly encouraged by stretches of Algoma’s performance against Guelph.

“But against Guelph, I thought there were stretches where we competed extremely well, stayed together and showed the character we want this team to have,” he said. “The scoreline obviously matters — we’re not going to pretend it doesn’t — but there were things within the performance that we can build from.”

The next step, according to the Thunderbirds coach, is finding greater consistency.

“Now the challenge is making those good stretches last longer and ultimately turning them into results.”

Andreychuk also expressed his frustration with the scheduling circumstances surrounding the Guelph game, noting that Algoma was playing its second game in as many days against an opponent that had not yet played.

“I still believe it’s completely against the competitiveness of the league to have us play a team away from home that hasn’t played yet, when we’ve played the night before,” Andreychuk said. “But that’s out of our hands. We still have to go out and perform and we didn’t do that for a full 90 minutes.”

Soe Provides an Offensive Spark

One of the bright spots for Algoma against Guelph was the performance of Dah Soe, who entered the game as a substitute and made an immediate impact.

“Dah gave us exactly what we needed from him coming on as a substitute,” Andreychuk said. “His energy, willingness to compete, and his ability to be positive when he got on the ball gave us another dimension going forward.”

The coach was impressed with Soe’s willingness to continue competing regardless of the circumstances.

“What impressed me most was that he continued to work and compete regardless of how the game was going. He was willing to take responsibility in difficult moments, and those are the types of performances we need to keep building on.”

Young Thunderbirds Learning the OUA Game

With a young roster, Andreychuk knows there will be a learning curve as the Thunderbirds adjust to the demands of OUA competition.

“We have a super young team within our program, but I think we’ve learned that there’s a lot of fight in this group,” he said.

Playing two established programs to open the season showed Algoma exactly how small the margins can be at the OUA level.

“We played two very good programs to start the season, and both showed us how small the margins are at this level,” Andreychuk explained. “If you switch off, lose your concentration, or don’t execute in an important moment, good teams punish you.”

For Algoma, the focus moving forward will be consistency.

“For us, the biggest improvement has to be consistency. We’ve shown that we can compete and play good football in stretches, but stretches aren’t enough,” said Andreychuk.

“We need to be more disciplined in both boxes, manage key moments better and make sure the level of our performance doesn’t drop. That’s part of the growth of this group.”

Key Players Returning Will Be Important

The Thunderbirds were also without two or three key players during the opening weekend, forcing the coaching staff to shuffle the lineup and place players in unfamiliar or more difficult positions.

Andreychuk believes getting those players back will be important, but he doesn’t want the opening weekend results to define the season.

“It’s massive. Of course not having 2-3 key players this weekend made it a lot harder for us, having to shuffle around a bit, and perhaps put players in tougher positions right from the start of the season, which isn’t always easy for them,” he said.

“With that being said, two results don’t define our season and they certainly don’t define this group. My message to the players is that we have to stay together and trust what we’re building.”

At the same time, Andreychuk stressed that confidence has to come with accountability.

“Confidence can’t mean ignoring where we need to improve. We have to be honest with ourselves, learn from the weekend and get back to work,” he said.

“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us and we don’t want them to. We believe in this group, and now it’s about responding the right way and showing that on the pitch.”

Thunderbirds Ready for Laurier Rivalry

The Thunderbirds return home September 5th and 6th to host the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, with both programs scheduled to play at home on both days.

Women’s games are scheduled for 1:00 p.m., followed by the men at 3:15 p.m.

For the men, the matchup with Laurier carries additional significance.

“For us, it’s less about making drastic changes and more about becoming better at the details,” Andreychuk said. “We need to be more consistent defensively, take better care of the ball in important moments, and be more ruthless when our opportunities come.”

The coach believes the Thunderbirds have already shown they can compete with strong opposition. Now they need to sustain that level.

“We’ve shown that we can have strong stretches against very good opposition. The next step is sustaining that level and understanding that games at this level can be decided by one or two moments.”

Andreychuk also sees the Laurier matchup as something of a developing rivalry.

“Laurier have always given us good games and vice versa. It’s become a nice little rivalry in my opinion, a team that we normally battle with a little bit in the standings as well,” he said.

“But they’ve always seemed to have our number in key moments. We have to make sure we’re on the right side of more of those moments.”

After a difficult opening weekend on the road, the Thunderbirds now have the opportunity to regroup, learn from the experience and begin building momentum in front of their home fans.

The 2026 OUA home campaign begins September 5th and 6th against Wilfrid Laurier, with the women at 1:00 p.m. and the men at 3:15 p.m. both days.