Antigonish, NS - The STFX X-Men defeated the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies 2-1 in a riveting encounter on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon at STFX Stadium. The Huskies, denied a point against CBU yesterday on a last-minute penalty save, were, once again, cruelly denied a point in today's match.
StFX, coming off an opening away win in Charlottetown against the UPEI Panthers, got off to a great start and dominated opening quarter of the game.
STFX's Kyle Cordeiro (Oakville, ON) had the best chances to start the game and Huskies' keeper Jensen Brown (Enfield, NS) was forced to make a number of big saves.
The X-Men's good play in their final third led to three early corner kicks which were expertly taken by first-year forward Cameron Shaw (Ottawa, ON). His third kick proved the trick as it was so perfect that no StFX player dared touch it and no SMU player could find a way to keep it from going into the far corner of the net.
The opening goal gave the Huskies the impetus needed to up their intensity. In the 24th minute the Huskies' were awarded a penalty when Lewis Dye (Fall River, NS) took down Sean Freeman (Halifax, NS) in the 18-yard box.
In the build-up to the penalty the Huskies crisply passed the ball up field before Woody Bain (Dartmouth, NS) weighted a brilliant ball into the box that gave Dye no other option to but to make contact with Freeman and concede the penalty. Up stepped Cian Tousignant-Osiadhail (Timberlea, NS) who calmly fired low into the far corner of the net.
As SMU upped their pressure, the freshmen duo of Luke Green (Fall River, NS) and Fergus Hall (Campbell River, BC) were excellent for StFX making a number of timely challenges, showing great presence on the ball, and delivering a number of great balls to keep the X-Men on the front foot.
The 1-1 score held up until the halftime break.
The second-half opened with Saint Mary's starting the brighter of the two teams and looking the more likely to score. StFX keeper, Seamus MacDonald (Antigonish, NS) made a number of key saves to keep the Husky offense at bay.
As the game passed the hour-mark the introduction of veteran Blake Fenton (Dartmouth, NS) proved timely. The fresh legs of Fenton were too much for Adam Dunsworth (Halifax, NS) whose shoulder charge against Fenton in the box was slightly mistimed and led to the game's second penalty.
Ziad Abdelrahaman (Toronto, ON), a half-time substitute, took the penalty. His shot went into the far corner past the outstretched arms of Brown to give the X-Men a 2-1 lead.
Dunsworth, to his credit, showed no histrionics for his foul. He was solid throughout the match for the Huskies and led the charge as Saint Mary's went in search for the equalizer with his fine passes and solid physical play off the ball.
Following the goal, the game became a physical affair with both teams putting in a number of heavy challenges, which forced resulted in a number of yellow cards.
The Huskies, desperate for a goal, did not resort to hopeless long balls but kept their composure as Tousignant-Osiadhail and Sumit Malik (Dartmouth, NS) did well to link up the defence and the forwards.
In the game's final breath, Neil Spires (Hubley, NS), lobbed a ball into the box and Alex Black's (Halifax, NS) sublime one-touch volley was saved by MacDonald to preserve a one-goal victory for StFX.
The Huskies (0-2-0) will be back in action on Thursday night when they play Dalhousie at Huskies Stadium at 7:15 pm.
StFX (2-0-0) will hit the road for a pair games, taking on Moncton on Saturday at 3:15 pm, then UNB in Fredericton on Sunday, also at 3:15 pm.
-30-
Courtesy Bart Sears, STFX Sports Information
Logan Harrington takes home Subway Player of the Game in the X-Men's 2-1 win over SMU in their home opener today! #goxgo #subwayfuel ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/tFVxcR3PcT
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) September 12, 2021