CIS men's soccer Sunday roundup: Cape Breton, UQTR, McMaster, UBC win conference titles

Source: Cape Breton Sports Info

Andrew Murphy stopped all 11 shots he faced to backstop the Cape Breton University Capers men's soccer team to a 2-0 win over the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds and the AUS men's soccer championship.
 
The No. 3 seed Capers were considered a dark horse entering the tournament because a week ago they were one loss away from missing the AUS playoffs. But they defeated the No. 2-ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies and No. 1-ranked UNB Varsity Reds to win the AUS title.
 
The Capers took an earlier lead on Sunday after Ian Greedy scored at 41:36, with an assist from Gregg Whiting.
 
Bruno Mota rounded out the Capers offence with a goal with only three minutes left to play.
 
This is the third time the Capers men’s team has won the AUS title having reached the top of the podium for the first time in 2007 and again in 2009.
 
“It wasn’t an easy task having to win three games in the three days,” said Capers head coach Robbie Chiasson. “There was a lot of adversity this weekend and once we got through (Saturday’s) game with success a lot of the guys just figured (Sunday) was just a matter of getting it done.”
 
Murphy, a fifth-year player who hails from England, was also the star of Saturday’s game that saw the Capers defeat the No. 2-ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies 1-0.
 
After 90 minutes of scoreless regulation play and two rounds of overtime, CBU’s keeper fired the game wining goal in a shootout. The Capers played most of the overtime short a man after Wyatt Scheller received a red card at 8:28 of the first overtime.
 
“Our goaltender was outstanding,” said Chiasson. “He was named MVP of the tournament. He scored the game winning in overtime (Saturday) in the shootout.”
 
The Capers will now focus their attention on winning a national banner as they head to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s soccer championship hosted by Université Laval in Quebec City.
 
The tournament will run from Thursday to Sunday.
 
The Capers are no stranger to the national tournament, having won their first CIS medal last year. CBU finished with a bronze medal after winning against the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Source: Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - The University of Saskatchewan Huskies claimed Canada West men’s soccer bronze on Sunday, thanks to a determined 2-1 win over the Trinity Western University Spartans in the third-place game at the 2012 Canada West championship tournament at Foote Field in Edmonton.

The Huskies got goals from fourth-year striker Scott Myrah and from 2012 Canada West First Team All-Star Brett Levis. Fifth-year goalie Mark Diakiw, playing in his final career CIS game, made four saves for the win. Scott Malek (D), Dion Morgan (D), Nick Clarke (D) were the other Huskies’ fifth-year student-athletes who finish their CIS careers with a conference medal.

Trinity Western got their lone goal off the boot of first-year defenceman Taylor Johnson. First-year goalie Andrew Hicks made four saves in the loss. Spencer Schmidt (S), 2012 Canada West Second Team All-Star Brayden Volkenant (D), and Jason Wiens (M/F) were all playing in their final CIS games.

Saskatchewan has now earned their second Canada West medal in the past three seasons after collecting silver in 2010. Both of those medal showings occurred at Foote Field in Edmonton.

The Huskies were primed to win Sunday’s third-place tilt right from the get-go, attacking the TWU defence often through the first half. Defender Fabian Dale almost put Saskatchewan up early in the game when he unloaded from 40-yards out, only to be denied by the crossbar.

Myrah, originally from Calgary, did put the Huskies on the score board in the 38th minute when he perfectly volleyed a bouncing ball into the bottom right corner, and beyond the dive of TWU ‘keeper Hicks for the 1-0 lead before half-time.

Trinity showed strong resolve in the second half, and leveled the score just minutes after the final 45 minutes began. Johnson, a first-year fullback from Strathmore, Alta., situated inside the Saskatchewan 18-yard box on a set piece, redirected the free-kick from teammate Cameron Parkes past Diakiw in the 47th minute for the 1-1 score.

Levis, a sophomore from Saskatoon, restored his teams’ advantage just five minutes later when he carried the ball on a 40-yard run, and then stroked it past Hicks for the game winner in the 52nd minute.

The Spartans were inches away from tying the score once again when third-year midfielder Carlos del Aguila chipped Diakiw only to hit the crossbar in the 57th minute.

Saskatchewan, however, was able to hang on to the 2-1 win to collect their second set on Canada West medals since 2010.

Source: McMaster Sports Info

TORONTO - The McMaster men's soccer team won their second OUA title in as many years on Sunday afternoon at McNaughton Park when they defeated the No. 10 Carleton Ravens by a whopping 5 goals.
 
The opportunities to score began early on for McMaster as key goal scorers Mark Reilly (Hamilton, Ont.) and Paterson Farrell (Oakville, Ont.) had shots saved by the Ravens goalkeeper.
 
It didn't take long to capitalize though, as the Marauders would get the go-ahead goal in just the tenth minute. In a packed six-yard box, Farrell was able to take a shot in the air and find the back of the net to beat Raven Mark Krocko.
 
Just ten minutes later, McMaster would strike again. A ball sent up the field from defender Robert Schlosser (Stoney Creek, Ont.) would find the head of David Serafini (Oakville, Ont.). The foward would flick it back to Reilly who would get the short sided goal to give McMaster the 2-0 lead. It would be the second goal the OUA West First-Team All-Star would score of the post season.
 
Before the half was up, OUA West Second-Team All-Star Angelo Cavalluzzo (Hamilton, Ont.) would be tested a number of times, having to make a diving save on an airborne shot from Theodore Lopez de Castilla and would get lucky with a shot from Joey Kewin hitting the right post.
 
Despite the heavy pressure that the Ravens put on the Marauders nearing the end of the half, McMaster would disspell any threats would would head into the second with a comfortable lead of 2-0.
 
The scoring would really open up for McMaster in the second. It would begin with a penalty kick. Awarded to the Marauders, Muntazir Fadhel (Richmond Hill, Ont.) would make no mistake, scoring his second goal of the post season.
 
In the 60th minute, Karl Bicamumpaka (Orleans, Ont.) would score his first of the season on a volley on a cross from a fellow Marauder and with just two minutes left in the match, rookie Serafini would really seal the deal with a breakaway goal of his own. This would also be Serafini's second goal of the post season.
 
With the 5-0 win over the Carleton Ravens, the No. 3 Marauders will head into the CIS Championships on a winning note. The CIS Championship schedule will be announced early next week as the Marauders will head to Quebec City in hopes of winning the 2012 CIS men's soccer title.

Source: Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - Canada West MVP Gagan Dosanjh proved his quality at the most opportune time, scoring the game winning goal in the 101st minute to help his UBC Thunderbirds to a 2-1 extra time Canada West championship win over the University of Alberta Golden Bears, Sunday afternoon at Foote Field in Edmonton.

Dosanjh, a third-year striker from Abbotsford, B.C., capitalized on loose ball in the Alberta 18-yard box and beat Canada West First Team All-Star goalie Jay Vetsch in the first extra time half on Sunday. The shifty striker, who led Canada West in goals, assists and points, was a threat every time he touched ball on Sunday. He finally broke through Alberta’s tenacious defence in extra time to help UBC clinch their 14th Canada West title, and first since 2010.

“You could see it in his game today, he was getting better as the game wore on, and I think there was a real confidence level on our side that he was going to get a goal today,” said UBC head coach Mike Mosher of his star player. “Credit Alberta, they played him really tight and physical, they blocked a lot of his shots, and Gagan was getting frustrated, so we told him to get back at them the only way he could. He’s the smallest guy on the field, but he went toe-to-toe with Alberta’s big back-line and in the end, he was rewarded.”

UBC had gone up 1-0 just 13 minutes into the game when midfielder Milad Mehrabi collected a feed from Reynold Stewart and beat Vetsch.

The rest of first half remained scoreless, but it was a raucous and physical affair, including hard tackles, bloody noses, and a home town crowd that gave the Point Grey squad plenty of jeers from the Foote Field stands.

Two minutes into the second half and that crowd roared to life when third-year Golden Bears’ striker Jermele Campbell scored to tie the match. Zenon Markevych sprung Campbell free with a great ball inside the UBC 18-yard box and the striker made no mistake, shooting cross crease to the bottom right corner for the 1-1 goal.

The game’s physicality and tension remained throughout the second half, Vetsch in particular had to make a number of game saving stops, but it ratcheted up even further when Alberta brought leading scorer and conference first team all-star Marcus Johnstone, and second team all-star midfielder Cam Schmidt into the contest in the 70th minute.

The move almost paid off as the increase in Alberta’s offensive pressure led to a chance by Markevych just before the 90 minutes expired. After some sustained pressure in the UBC zone, a blocked Alberta shot led to the ball rolling nicely to Markevych at the 20-yard line where he put a thunderous shot on net, only to be stopped by T-Birds’ goalie Luke O’Shea.

Dosanjh, who was relentless on the attack all game, finally got his goal when took advantage of a defensive miscue in the Alberta 18-yard box and beat Vetsch for the game winner just before the first extra time half expired. Although Alberta pushed to level the score in the second extra time half, UBC would hang on to win the game.

“It’s always disappointing when you lose, because you want to win every game, but for us the big focus was getting to the national championship in the best possible condition,” said 28-year Alberta head coach Len Vickery. “We’re pretty banged up right now, plus we had a tough match yesterday in order to get here, so we did some things to ensure we would have the best possible line-up next week in Laval, and at the same time, we got to put some people in the line-up to gain valuable experience which is beneficial, because they are the future of Golden Bears soccer. We’ll go into the national championship as a lower seed, but history has shown that in a one-and-done playoff game, higher seeds are often upset, and we feel very strongly about our ability to compete with anyone at that tournament next week.”

“In the end,” said Mosher, “I think our side was a little bit more determined to win that championship today. We have high expectations every time we step on the field. We want to win every game, and we want championships. Full credit to Alberta today, they were really banged up, had a tough 120 minute game yesterday, so I don’t think we saw their best, but they battled hard to win, and in the end, we were more determined to win, and we did.”

The CIS national championship tournament runs Nov 8-11, 2012 at Universite de Laval in Quebec.