TORONTO (CIS) – The Cape Breton Capers defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 3-0 in the second consolation semifinal match at the 2015 CIS men's soccer championship on Friday afternoon at York Stadium in Toronto.
The Capers will now move on to play the McMaster Marauders in the consolation final on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at York Stadium.
Despite being on the consolation side of the draw, Cape Breton's Zak Riley of Liverpool, U.K., was happy with his team's play against Toronto and is looking forward to Saturday's game.
"We're definitely hoping to come away with a win," he said of the match-up with the Marauders. "Of course we wanted to win the whole tournament, but we would like to leave Toronto placing as high as we can."
Despite a scoreless first half, both teams had opportunities to attain the lead. The Varsity Blues posed a threat with multiple long-ranged shots from Antonio Ajhert of Makarska, Croatia.
In the 37th minute the Varsity Blues nearly broke the scoring from a set piece. Stepping up to take the free kick, Kenny Lioutas of Scarborough, Ont., hit an in-swinging free kick that met the head of Jason Cordeiro of Burnaby, B.C., but just sailed over the crossbar.
The Capers' best opportunity came soon after. Tight passing from the midfield at the top of box released Joel Eckert-Ayensa of Pulhaim, Germany, into a scoring situation, but he sent to ball wide with a shot to the near post.
In the second half the Capers found new life, gaining a 2-0 lead in five minutes, and later getting a third goal in the 63rd minute.
Catching the high defensive line of the Varsity Blues with a slotted ball along the right wing, the Capers found themselves in a two-on-one situation with the Toronto keeper. Marco Lapenna of Ottawa unselfishly found two-time AUS scoring champion Justin Maheu of Ottawa with a pass across the face of the net, and the 2013 CIS player of the year wasted no time to put his team up 1-0.
Shortly after in the 54th minute Mark Stewart of Liverpool, United Kingdom, scored a brilliant individual goal, thrusting through a sea of Varsity Blues defenders off the dribble and poking the ball into the net.
Then solidifying the 3-0 win was defender Daniel Pritchard of Nuneaton, United Kingdom, who got his head to Stewart's free kick taken from a wide position.
Stewart was named Cape Breton's player of the game, while Nirun Sivananthan of Brampton, Ont., earned the honour for his side.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CBU 0-3: 3
TOR 0-0: 0
First Half
(no scoring)
Second Half
1. CBU Justin Maheu (1), 49th minute
2. CBU Mark Stewart (2), 54th
3. CBU Daniel Pritchard (1), 63rd
Goalkeepers:
CBU: Scott Shewfelt (W, 0 GA, 2 saves, 90:00, 1-1)
TOR: Mark Rogal (L, 3 GA, 6 saves, 90:00, 0-1)
Team Stats
Shots: N/A
Shots on net: CBU 9, TOR 2
Corners: CBU 2, TOR 5
Fouls: CBU 11, TOR 9
Yellow cards: TOR (Nikolay Saveliev)
Red cards: None
Players of the game:
CBU: Mark Stewart
TOR: Nirun Sivananthan
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Thursday, Nov. 12
11:00 Quarter-final 1: UQAM 2, McMaster 1 (4-3 kicks)
13:30 Quarter-final 2: UNB 3, Victoria 2
16:00 Quarter-final 3: UBC 3, Toronto 0
19:00 Quarter-final 4: York 4, Cape Breton 1
Friday, Nov. 13
11:00 Consolation 1: McMaster 2, Victoria 1
13:30 Consolation 2: Cape Breton 3, Toronto, 0
Saturday, Nov. 14
11:00 Semifinal 1: UQAM vs. UNB (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Semifinal 2: UBC vs. York (CIS-SIC.tv)
16:00 5th-place game: McMaster vs. Cape Breton (CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 15
11:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)