AUS soccer playoffs have arrived

By Dylan Matthias, Sports Editor

They should have beaten Memorial. An undefeated team against a winless team. This should have been easy—but it wasn’t.

The Tigers’ loss last weekend to the Seahawks means Dal lose their edge over the also undefeated UPEI Panthers heading into AUS playoffs. The effect is huge.

In first place, where Dal would have finished with a couple of wins over MUN, their semi-final opposition would have very likely been either Saint Mary’s or St. FX, with Acadia having an outside chance if they were to beat Cape Breton. Finishing second, Dal will likely get Cape Breton in the semi-finals.

For a team that fell apart at the semi-final stage last year, a match-up with an under-achieving but still very dangerous Capers team is not a good thing. The Tigers beat Cape Breton 2–0 at Wickwire, but the Capers were without scoring threats Alyssa Budhoo and Sabina Solymar. The match-up should be a good one for spectators, but it could be Dal’s most difficult game of the year.

In order to reach CIS nationals at UPEI, Dal must make the AUS final. If UPEI also make the final—and they likely will—then Dal go through regardless of the result in the final. If UPEI are upset by St. FX or Saint Mary’s, then Dal have to win the banner to qualify for nationals.

The X-Women and Huskies should put on a good show tonight (Nov. 5). They’re evenly matched, but it’s hard to discount the success St. FX had last year, upsetting the Tigers and heading to nationals. That might give them an edge.

On paper, UPEI should really have no difficulty with the winner of the St. FX–SMU game. They are, unquestionably, the better team, boasting an attack led by Tessa Roche who is leading the AUS in scoring for the second straight year. Ali Goodman has been excellent as a rookie and Chanelle Roy hasn’t conceded a goal since Sept. 18.

That goal, though, came against SMU in a 1–1 draw. The Panthers have also drawn with St. FX 0–0 this year. The irony of all this is if Dal had beaten Memorial, UPEI would be playing Cape Breton, who they beat 2–0 in Sydney.

UPEI are through to nationals regardless, but they might want a little revenge on St. FX for stealing the AUS banner last year.

Men’s Tigers have an easy path

Finishing third was a good move for the Tigers’ men’s soccer team.

It’s doubtful, of course, that they planned the season that way. But, despite a poor season by their standards, the Tigers are a trio of winnable games away from a berth at nationals.

The key in this year’s AUS playoffs is to avoid the rampaging St. FX X-Men, who are ranked number one nationally, for as long as possible. Dal can do this quite easily.

It does mean an extra game for Dal—the third-place finisher misses out on the semi-final bye. The Tigers will have to play Moncton in Moncton, which could be difficult given the Aigles-Bleus passionate fan-base and the draw Moncton held Dal to at Wickwire earlier this year—a draw that might well have been a win if not for a last-minute mishap from Simon Lesage that gave Dal a penalty and got Lesage sent off.

If Dal can beat Moncton—and they have the ability to do so—a match-up with Saint Mary’s will await. Dal beat SMU last time they met and looked pretty good doing it. That awful 6–1 memory still lingers, but since the 2–0 win over SMU the Tigers have turned their season around, playing two solid games against St. FX and beating UNB and Memorial. The Tigers are coming in strong to these playoffs and could easily cause some upsets.

St. FX will have to be very careful with the winner of UNB and Cape Breton’s game—likely it’ll be the Capers. There are rumours of chemistry problems at CBU, but then, if the X-Men’s visit to Wickwire was anything to go by, there might be some chemistry problems in Antigonish, too. UNB have had their own frustrations this year, too. It could well be that the representative in the finals from that side of the bracket is whichever team doesn’t self-destruct in a game they should otherwise win.

AUS get just the one spot at nationals this year, so Dal will have to beat St. FX, likely, in the final. Of all the teams in AUS that have tried, Dal have come closest to upsetting the X-Men, drawing them 0–0 at Wickwire in a game Dal probably should have won.

It won’t be easy for the Tigers. If there was a time for Tyler Lewars to open his AUS goals account, this would be it.

Look for today’s game live-blogs here: Saint Mary’s v. St. FX @ 2:30pm and here Acadia v. Cape Breton @ 5:30pm