Men’s team takes two victories

Tigers soccer impressive without two stars

Men's soccer Sept 10, 2011 - photo by Martina Marien

We knew the Tigers had a solid defense, but would that still be the case minus top defender Kerry Weymann?

The team captain was nursing a hamstring injury he suffered in the season opener Sept.10, but his absence didn’t appear to have any effect this past weekend in New Brunswick as the men’s soccer team added two away wins to their record in the second week of the AUS campaign.

Saturday’s 2 – 1 triumph over Moncton and the 2 – 0 defeat of UNB the day after propelled the Tigers to a 3 – 1 standing, putting them in a tie for first place with Cape Breton and St. FX.

Tigers head coach Pat Nearing said the two victories has his team in high spirits prior to Saturday’s match.

“As I’ve been saying right from the start, we’re young but the quality we have on this team is high already, so we’ve got a huge upside. We’re 3 – 1 right now and our confidence is pretty good.”

In the Moncton game, Tyler Lewars opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with an unassisted marker.

Kasper Ciepala pleased the home crowd when he evened the match early in the second half with a penalty kick. The see-saw ended in the 82nd minute when Dal rookie Bezick Evraire capitalized on a corner kick to win the contest 2 – 1.

The road swing was not all positive for the Tigers, however, as Sunday’s contest was missing Lewars, the team’s leading scorer at the time with two goals and two assists, because of a separated shoulder he sustained in the prior game.

Robert Engert took his spot and Nearing said the rookie performed well.

Even without Lewars, the scoring still materialized for Dal, this time courtesy of Julian Perrotta. A long shot from the fourth-year eluded UNB tender Aaron McMurray in the 1st minute. He scored again midway through the second half on a breakaway. The game’s final was 2 – 0.

“We only gave up one goal all week and it was on a penalty kick, and we scored three so it was a good weekend for us,” said Nearing. “I’m very happy with where we are, especially in developing the chemistry we’re going to need with such a young team.”

The men’s soccer team welcomes Cape Breton to the home pitch Saturday at 3:15 p.m. The Capers, also with nine points, are undefeated and hold a 3 – 0 record.