(SYDNEY, NS) Led by a pair of goals by 1st Team AUS All-Star forward Kairo Coore (Whitby, ON), the Cape Breton University Capers scored a 3-1 win over the UNB REDS in semi-final action at the 2021 Subway Atlantic University Sport Men's Soccer Championships on Friday night.
"We have been building up for this moment," the conference's leading scorer in the regular season said.
In a fast-paced first half, conference rookie of the year Jose de Cunha (Cascais, Portugal) of the Capers ripped a free kick off the UNB wall. In the 13th minute, De Cunha sent a nifty lead pass into Coore, who deposited a shot behind Louis-Charles Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, QC) to make it 1-0.
About three minutes later, on a great individual effort, Roan Saengmeng (Charlottetown, PE) blasted a long shot past Capers' keeper Daniel Clarke (Milton Keyes, UK) to knot the contest.
In the 23rd minute, De Cunha blistered a shot, but Vaillancourt dove for a spectacular left-handed save.
Off a Caper corner kick late in the first half, Euan Bauld (Musselburgh, UK) ended up putting a spectacular bicycle kick behind Vaillancourt to make it 2-1.
Early in the second half, the offensive magic of AUS MVP Charlie Waters (Blackpool, UK) was on display as he beat UNB defender Simon Basillion (Ottawa, ON), but Vaillancourt got his hands on the midfielder's shot to keep it a one-goal deficit for the Reds.
The best chance the Reds got to tie the match came in the 72nd minute, off a Tom Pheulpin (San Antonio, TX) free kick. After Clarke punched away his shot, Grant Takacs (Woodstock, ON) had an opportunity on the rebound but missed an open net.
Moments later, Coore notched an insurance marker for the Capers and bringing the REDS season to an end.
"The Capers are an excellent team, who have been able to win consistently over the last number of years, and it showed with their big players having big games," said REDS head coach Barry Morrison. "They were able to do a great job attacking in wide areas and were able to play a lot of balls into the box, which we had to work hard to deal with."
The Capers will play the Saint Mary's Huskies for the AUS banner on Sunday.
"We learned a lot this year," said Morrison. "We had a lot of key performances from young players over the course of the year and will continue to grow and improve into next season. I'm proud of the resilience and determination of this young team."
RECAP BY: Corey Leblanc/for CBU Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Vaughan Merchant/for CBU Athletics