Nolan French holds off Bears In Horns 1-1 Tie
The Pronghorns Men’s Soccer team face the UofA Golden Bears in back to back matches this Thanksgiving weekend. The first 90 minutes of the weekend was unable to decide the series, with the teams playing to a 1-1 tie with both teams scoring in the second half of the affair. Thomas Dennes would pick up the marker for the Horns, but both teams defensive play were superb through the match. Quarterbacking the Horns defence was goaltender Nolan French, who took some time away from relaxing with him family to update us on the game.
“I thought it went well.” Nolan says of the match. “Honestly I think all our home games we’ve played well, we just might not be getting the results we want. Today we tied and that’s a positive.” The tie brings with it the Horns’ first points of the 2021 season. Nolan was upbeat regarding his personal contributions to the tie. “I thought I did pretty well today. Those first saves were pretty good and came at a good time. If those go in the guys are facing a different situation.”
Nolan was also complimentary about the quality of the Horns’ opposition through the match. “They’re a good team. Usually, I’ve been here a while, and their (UofA) team is usually pretty good. I don’t think they’re outstanding this season, so I think we can get 3 points tomorrow. We go out tomorrow like we did today, we can definitely get 3 points tomorrow.”
French is in his fifth and final year of eligibility in the league. Academically, he is looking forward to graduating this year with a degree in math education. French hopes to teach high school math in Calgary or Lethbridge, though he hasn’t decided where he wants to end up yet. He shares with us that his passion for teaching math started in high school and this is a goal he’s been working towards for a while “Honestly [my interest] started in high school. I’d help out my friends who were struggling with concepts. I was strong with math and it was my strongest subject. There was a satisfaction of helping others learn something I’m good at. I think that’s what it comes down to, getting satisfaction of being able to help others.”
Nolan credits his parents for supporting him through his academic athletic career. “I have to give credit to them,” he says. “They’ve been as helpful as they can even though I’m not living at home. They call me all the time to check on me and help me out whenever I need it.” He takes a brief pause. “I should credit Randy as well, he’s been good to me in my time here as well.” Nolan is speaking of Randy Bardock, the coach of the Horns team since 1991.
Nolan is looking forward to the rematch with UofA tomorrow and is hopeful his team is able to pull of their first win of the season to earn them the 3 points. That game takes place at University of Lethbridge Community Stadium at 2:15 pm.
You can find Lethbridge Sports’ photo coverage of the match today here.