The 12U Space Monkeys Club soccer team got the chance to save face when they met their frequent opponents the Ottawa United on the field at Youth Sports Inc. on Saturday. The Monkeys played United a few weeks ago and lost 8-1, so Saturday was their chance for redemption.

“We played them earlier and lost by seven, so we wanted to improve on this game,” Monkeys coach Jess Randall said.

The Monkeys did get their chance to improve on Saturday, though they still missed the victory in a 1-0 loss.

The Monkeys accomplished their goal of improvement by holding United at bay. It wasn’t until very late in the first half that United was able to break through to score what would be the game-winning goal.

The game started out slowly with the players clumped around United’s scoring zone. The Monkeys tried to keep their defense intact by crowding around their goal.

United attempted to break through and squeeze the ball through the defenders for a score, but narrowly missed as a sudden gust of wind sent the ball whizzing off to the side.

Space Monkey Anthony Rosen and his teammates mark up on the Ottawa United corner kick Saturday at Youth Sports Inc.

Taking advantage of United’s unfortunate miss, the Monkeys pushed the ball through to attempt to score on goal. Yet the Monkeys midfielders were thrown for a loop as the ball began to roll out of bounds and missed crucial positions that would have helped them secure a point.

After almost an entire half without a goal, a United player broke free to put a goal in for the team.

Randall attributed United’s score to some holes in the Monkeys’ defensive play, but said he was still proud of the team’s efforts.

“I thought we played pretty well even though we had a couple of lapses on defense,” Randall said. “It’s still early on in the season.”

Randall said a goal of his for the game was to get the Monkeys to stay wide and utilize the whole field in their play. The players got the opportunity to spread out a bit in the second half.

The Monkeys aggressively challenged United for control of the ball and were able to wrestle it away a few times. Monkey Anthony Rosen stepped up for the team numerous times to assist in ball handling and shot opportunities.

“Anthony set up a lot of good situations for us,” Randall said.

Randall also pointed to the abilities of the team’s goalie as being a big asset to the game. The Monkeys’ goalie had three clean saves on United attempts in the second half. It was through his and the rest of the team’s efforts that the Monkeys were able to hold United from scoring any more goals and end the game only one point behind, 1-0.

After the game Randall said this season he hopes to focus on working with the Monkeys to be better as a team and to help everyone play better individually. He said this wasn’t the team’s first match-up against Ottawa and it won’t be their last, but he looks forward to seeing them improve even more.