CCAA Men's Soccer: Day 2 Recap

Match 8: Douglas Royals 2, St Thomas Tommies 0

The Douglas College Royals must like night games because they’re undefeated in them this week.

Playing under the lights for the second time in as many nights, the Royals blanked the St Thomas Tommies 2-0 to advance to Saturday’s gold medal game against the Humber College Hawks.

It was clear that Douglas College’s strategy was to shut down the Tommies’ Brett Springer, who used his speed to score twice in their 4-0 quarter-final win Wednesday over the SAIT Trojans. They kept a body on Springer all game, sometimes two, in an attempt to quell the blazing fast striker.

While they were doing their best to keep Springer quiet, they received a goal 36 minutes in by Rozmehr Aghabaygy – his second of the tournament – to score what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.

Douglas added an insurance marker in the second half when Armaan Bhagwanji scored in the 89^th minute to quiet the Tommies fans in attendance.

The loss sends the Tommies to the 3pm MST Friday bronze medal semifinal match where they will meet the NAIT Ooks.

Players of the Game in the match were Burhan Waisy for Douglas and Ryan MacKinnon for St. Thomas.

Match 7: *Humber Hawks 1, Nomades de Montmorency 1 (*Humber wins PKs 4-3)

In what, arguably, has been the best game of the tournament so far, the Humber College Hawks came out on top.

An eventful first half saw both teams apply pressure, but neither club could draw first blood.

The Hawks didn’t wait long to break the scoreless tie, getting a goal from Abdul Babawale to go up 1-0 just seconds into the second half.

Like the first half, the remainder of the game saw both teams trade chances. In the 74^th minute, Montmorency College were finally rewarded for their hard work when Ansoumane Camara scored on a penalty kick after teammate Alexandre Marcoux was taken down in the box.

When nothing was decided after the final whistle, the teams went to penalty kicks.

After each team scored on their first three attempts, they each missed on the fourth. Humber scored on their fifth attempt, setting the stage for excitement either way.

Montmorency’s Alexandre Marcoux, who scored twice in Wednesday’s quarter-final win over NAIT, faced off against Humber goalkeeper Holger Xhameta.

Marcoux fired his shot to the lower right-hand side of the net, and Xhameta guessed right, stopping the attempt to send his team to the gold medal game on Saturday at 3pm MST against the Douglas College Royals.

Montmorency will now move on to the bronze semifinal match on Friday at 12:30pm MST where they will meet the George Brown College Huskies.

Humber’s Michael Fayehun and Montmorency’s Montacer El-Harchali were named Players of the Game for their respective teams.

Match 6: *George Brown Huskies 1, SAIT Trojans 1 (*George Brown wins PKs 4-3)

Last minute heroics did the trick for George Brown College on Thursday afternoon.

The Huskies received a goal from Mashhood Rehman in extra time to tie the game, before winning it 4-3 in penalty kicks over the host SAIT Trojans in their CCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship bronze medal quarter-final game.

The game was controlled early on by the Trojans, who were looking to rebound after being shutout by St. Thomas 4-0 on Wednesday.

SAIT’s pressure paid off in the 34^th minute when Santiago Reinosa was hauled down in the box, resulting in a penalty kick.

Matteo Zanin took the ensuing penalty kick and made good, beating Huskies goalkeeper Aubrey Lowe to take a 1-0 lead.

The game turned physical after the break, with numerous yellow cards issued to players for both teams. SAIT defender Bradley Atherton received a pair of yellow cards – his second coming with 15 minutes left in the second half to force SAIT to play the remainder of the contest with just 10 men.

George Brown pounced on the short-handed Trojans and created scoring opportunities for themselves.

Their last opportunity was the one they capitalized on, as Rehman was given just enough space to let go a shot that beat SAIT keeper Ben Press in the lower right-hand side of the net.

After the final whistle, the teams went straight to penalty kicks where Lowe shined – stopping both Zanin and Reinosa. Yonis Jama then beat Press for what turned out to be the winner.

George Brown will move forward in their quest for bronze, while the host Trojans see their tournament come to an end after going 0-2.

Lowe and Reinosa were named the Players of the Game for their respective games.

Match 5: NAIT Ooks 6, Brandon Bobcats 0

The NAIT Ooks took control early and never let up.

The Edmontonians received a goal just three minutes into the game, as they defeated the Brandon University Bobcats 6-0 in their CCAA bronze medal quarter-final match played Thursday morning at SAIT’s Cohos Commons Field.

The early marker was the first of four for Ousman Maheshe, who also found the back of the net in 47^th, 63^rd and 67^th minutes of the game.

Teammate Matthew Zima had an impressive outing himself, scoring a pair of goals (15’, 54’).

NAIT goalkeeper Ryan Gillie was not very busy, but earned the clean sheet in the victory.

The Ooks will move on to the bronze medal semifinal game, which will be played Friday afternoon at 3pm MST. Brandon ends the tournament at 0-2.

Maheshe was an obvious choice for NAIT’s Player of the Game, while Brandon’s Diego Rodriguez earned his team’s honour.