Playoff race tightens, as Panthers earn point against Dalhousie in nil-nil draw

By Thomas Becker

With the standings as tight as they are, every point matters. 

The UPEI Panthers captured another one Sunday afternoon after playing the Dalhousie Tigers to a nil-nil draw. 

With three games remaining and just four points separating the third-place team from the eighth-place team, so much can change, and sophomore winger Nathan Chow knows the significance of earning a point this late in the season. 

"We treated today as a playoff game," Chow said. "We knew this game would put us back in the running, so we wanted to come out and play really hard."

Panthers' (3-3-3) goalkeeper Evan Couturier was a big reason why the game ended in a draw, as he made a couple key stops. The first came in the 10th minute when Dalhousie's Enrico Rodriguez struck the ball from the edge of the box only to be denied by a diving save from Couturier.

The Tigers (4-2-2) ran into bad luck in the 14th minute when a free kick was sent to Gracious Kasheke, who headed it off the far post. They would hit iron again 15 minutes later as William Warren fired the ball off the crossbar to keep it locked up at zero.

Rodriguez had eyes on the game's first goal early in the second half, but was denied again by Couturier. In the 55th minute, Rodriguez got by a defender and laced a shot from the left wing before Couturier pushed the ball to safety with an athletic diving save. 

UPEI's best chance of the game came in the final moments when Chow centred a pass to Colin Curran, who took a touch and fired a shot from 25 yards that goalkeeper Aiden Rushenas just got his fingertips on, which preserved the draw in the end.

With another point secured, the Panthers will look for more Friday night when they take on the visiting Memorial Sea-Hawks. 

"We're just going to take it one game at a time and try to do what we did today and work hard."

Photo Credit: Janessa Hogan