Tigers and Aigles Bleus advance to AUS semi-finals

The Atlantic University Sports men’s soccer championships kicked off Thursday with two quarterfinal games at Dalhousie University’s Wickwire Field.

The Dalhousie Tigers beat the University of New Brunswick 2-0 on their home turf. The defending champions advance to a semifinal matchup against St. Francis Xavier University on Friday at 4 p.m. 

StFX got a bye into the semifinals after finishing on top of the AUS during the regular season. The Tigers faced the X-Men in their final game of the regular season, which ended in a 0-0 draw. 

Ben Hashimoto, a fourth-year striker for the Tigers, opened the scoring in the 45th minute. Hashimoto led the team with seven goals during the season.

Yorgos Gavas, a defender in his first season with the Tigers, sealed the match with his first goal in the black and gold, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead. 

The UNB Reds played a physical game, receiving three red cards in the game’s second half. One came from the bench, and two went to Alex Oprea and Myers Hayne. Dalhousie’s Zachary Chen also received a red card, receiving an automatic one-game suspension and will be unavailable for the Tigers semifinal contest on Friday. 

Sixth seed Aigles Bleus knock out UPEI

The first quarterfinal of the AUS men’s soccer championship saw the Université de Moncton face the University of Prince Edward Island. The U de M Aigles Bleus upset the conference’s third seed with a 3-2 victory. They will face the second seed, Cape Breton University, at 1 p.m. on Friday. 

Soumaila Mohamed Dagnoko opened the tournament’s scoring with a marker for the Aigles Bleus in the first half. Just three minutes later, Mael Lavail increased their lead to two.

In the second half, the UPEI Panthers cut the lead in half, with Rio Crystal scoring to make it 2-1. The Panthers would continue to add pressure, tying the game in the 59th minute with a goal from Isaac Sommerville, who led the AUS in regular season goals. 

UPEI would generate more offence, with Crystal hitting the crossbar. Will Campbell, the Panthers’ captain, says that everyone on his team brings leadership to the pitch every game.

“I mean everyone’s a leader … all these guys want it themselves, and they will lead themselves,” says Campbell.

However, the Aigles Bleus killed all of the Panthers’ momentum with a goal just two minutes later off a quick turnover from Lavail’s second goal of the match.

“The start of the second half was a little bit of a little energy for some of the players. Only takes one or two, and then of course the whole team lost a little bit of the momentum,” says Younes Bouida, the Panthers head coach. 

The Panthers had an opportunity to extend the game in its final seconds, but they hit the post with a header.

“I mean, well, right from the second half started, we just talked about let’s just bring all the energy we can and come out flying and you know we did a great job of that,” says Campbell. “[We] collapsed a couple times defensively and conceded another goal.”

“Sometimes the game just doesn’t go your way.”