Capers, Sea-Hawks play to hard-fought scoreless tie

Capers, Sea-Hawks play to hard-fought scoreless tie

By Corey LeBlanc 

Sydney, N.S. – The Cape Breton University (CBU) Capers (2-1-1) and the visiting Memorial University Sea-Hawks (2-2-1) battled to a hard-fought and physical 0-0 tie in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) men's soccer action Saturday afternoon at the Cape Breton Health Recreation Complex. 

In the opening half, the Sea-Hawks garnered the first scoring opportunity, but the Caper defenders were able to clear the zone before a header attempt crossed the goal line. 

In the 17^th minute, Jacob Grant of Memorial collected his rebound off a free-kick, but CBU goalkeeper Jordan Watkins (Georgetown, UK) was able to save the second left-footed strike.

Four minutes later, the Capers threatened for the first time, with Kairo Coore (Whitby, ON) getting a couple shots away, but Dylan Crichton barred the door.

In the 26^th minute, CBU was unable to capitalize on back-to-back Charlie Waters (Blackpool, UK) corner kicks.

Shortly after, off a Colin Connors cross, Emmanuel Dolo had his left-footed strike blocked by the Caper defense.

In the 43^rd minute, off another CBU corner kick, the Memorial defense turned aside a Loic Gunn (Angus, ON) scoring attempt.

In a back-and-forth second, the Capers steadily gained momentum, but they could not get on the scoreboard.

In the 55^th minute, Connors tried to put the Sea-Hawks ahead, but Watkins gobbled up his sharp-angled shot from in tight.

Jose Maria Ribeiro de Cunha (Cascais, Portugal) left-footed a lead pass to Daniel Williams (Pierrefonds, QC), who made the cross, but Coore could not complete the three-way play in the 57^th minute.

Williams came close six minutes later, but his header sailed over the crossbar behind Crichton.

In the following 10 minutes or so, CBU threatened but came up empty, including on three corner kicks from Waters.

In the 86^th minute, Memorial came close to breaking the seal on scoring when Zachary Visser headed a free-kick from Dolo just beyond the sliding Jacob Grant, who was attempting a shot on goal. 

There were several yellow cards issued in the second half, with a couple of pushing and shoving square-offs between the teams, but cooler heads prevailed. 

Raine Lyn (Oakville, ON) of the Capers was the Subway player of the game.

Each team will be back on the pitch tomorrow – Sunday, Sept. 26 – when the Sea-Hawks travel to Antigonish to face the STFX X-Men, while the Capers will host the Acadia Axemen.

Opening kick-off for both match-ups is 3:15 p.m.

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