Men’s soccer winless in three

Evraire in action. Photo by Martina Marien.

Tigers grab a point in weekend set against league’s best

The Dalhousie men’s soccer team had some nationally ranked teams to contend with this past weekend as they battled No. 3 ranked St. FX and No. 4 Cape Breton.

In Friday’s contest, Tigers goalkeeper Ben Ur bailed out his team on many occasions against a St. FX team which dominated possession en route to a fortunate 1 – 1 draw.

Freshman midfielder Phillip Parsons evened the game for the Tigers, hitting the back of net from outside the box in the 82nd minute.

“My first goal felt amazing, especially because of the quality and timing. There aren’t many better feelings,” Parsons said after scoring his first AUS goal, though collecting his third yellow card and a ban for one match put a slight damper on the occasion.

The X-Men scored a well-deserved goal in the 53rd minute by Jamar Dixon and were unlucky not to be up 2 – 0 in the 75th when an offside prevented a goal.

“The game at St. FX was very hard-foughtand we played with a lot of emotion. Ben Ur stood on his head and Phil managed to score a wonderful goal at the end. I’m very proud of the way the boys fought back to steal a point,” said second-year midfielder Nathan Rogers, who was out of the lineup due to injury.

The inexperience of the young Tigers team was exposed often by Cape Breton in Saturday’s game as Dalhousie fell 4 – 1. The Tigers’ only goal came in the 69th minute from their own keeper as Ur scored his second career goaloff a 70-yard kick, though his effort offered little consolation for Dal as they were outplayed throughout.

“Our game against CBU was a little unfortunate. They got in front early and we were unlucky to go down to 10 men. They are a quality side with good ball movement, but we believe they are beatable,” said Rogers.

Ian Greedy had two goals for the Capers, including the game-winner.

The gap in the standings after this past weekend widened between CBU and St. FX and the rest of the league. The two squads are undefeated with the Capers earning 19 points and the X with 17 points. The Tigers, 3-3-1, are tied for fourth with Saint Mary’s, 2-0-4. The cross-town schools each have 10 points.

“Every time we have to play CBU it seems we’re short in our roster, missing some key players,” said Tigers midfielder Julian Perrotta. “We were hurt from a hard-fought game against St. FX the night before. We struggled to get much going.”

This was the Tigers fourth consecutive lost to the Capers since 2009.

Dal welcomes the Thanksgiving break this weekend after going winless in their past three games. The Tigers play host to St. FX in their next game on Oct. 15. The following day they head to Wolfville to face Acadia.

Editor’s Note: Tim VanDerWeide was a member of Dal’s soccer team last season.