Both Tigers soccer clubs advance to AUS Final

The Dalhousie Tigers men’s soccer club is looking to win back-to-back AUS championships, this time on their home turf. 

The Tigers men’s club won a hard-fought 2-1 contest against the top-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men on Monday, thanks to Tigers back-up goalkeeper James Craig at Wickwire Field.

Craig started in Friday’s contest against StFX after Dalhousie’s starting goalkeeper suffered an injury in the Tigers’ quarterfinal win against the University of New Brunswick. 

“One goal this game against the number two ranked team in the country. Amazing performance by defence. I’m so proud of them,” says Craig.

The women’s club also advanced to the AUS finals, taking place in St. John’s. Both Tigers sides will be kicking off against the Cape Breton Capers at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The X-Men went 11-0-1 during the AUS regular season, where their lone draw came against the Tigers in the final game of the regular season. 

The X-Men controlled most of the first half, but struggled to generate scoring chances. However, it was the Tigers who opened the scoring. 

As halftime was approaching, a corner was whipped in, which led to a scramble where forward Ben Hashimoto of the Tigers found his teammate and midfielder James Morrison, who powered home the first goal of the game to give Dalhousie a 1-0 lead. 

StFX came out strong after halftime, where X-Men captain Isaac Vanwychen used some fancy footwork to feed the 2026-27 AUS Rookie of the Year Aiden Nielsen to tie the game 1-1. 

STFX continued to pressure as Craig was forced to make a great save on Vanwychen.

In the final minute, Dalhousie took a corner shot, and the ball bounced off a StFX player into their own net. Dalhousie would hang on to defeat the X-Men 2-1. 

“They’re a hard team to score on. They’re organized, and they just sit low, and then they got a couple set pieces on us,” says Vanwychen. “It’s just unlucky.”

For the second straight season, Dalhousie will face the Cape Breton Capers in the AUS finals as they look to defend their title at home.

“We’re super pumped. We really want to get back-to-back wins, back-to-back championships, and doing it on the home turf in front of all our fans; it’s just going to make it even better,” says Craig.

SUB: How the Capers got to the finals

The Université de Moncton faced the two-seed Cape Breton Capers in the semi-finals at 1 p.m. 

Cape Breton got a bye into the semifinals after finishing on top of the AUS during the regular season. They were waiting for the winners of the quarterfinals.

The U de M Aigles Bleus struck first when midfielder Axcel Massimbo scored a header in the 13th minute.

Alex Kazandjian, midfielder and captain of the Aigles Bleus, said that the team could feel the energy and that the first half started off difficult, but was relieved that the team was able to get the first goal. 

“We know it wasn’t going to be easy, but I think we did really well in getting the first goal,” says Kazandjian.

Evan Cunningham, forward for the Capers, would tie the game 20 minutes later, but three minutes after would be Myles Lavil of the Aigles Bleus who would restore the 2-1 lead. But the Capers would strike back again by tying the match 2-2, this time by captain Jamie Nicholson.

Laval scored three goals in Moncton’s two playoff contests..

In the second half, Cape Breton came out strong with defensive structure and handling the ball offensively. Amadou Bayo would take the match to a dramatic ending, scoring for the Capers in the 89th minute to help Cape Breton defeat the Aigles Bleus 3-2 to move on to the AUS men’s soccer Championship finals for the second straight year. 

“Our mentality has really taken up a notch going into these finals, and that’s why we’re really ready and were the team to beat,” says Nicholson.