By Dylan Matthias, Sports Editor
The Tigers’ men’s soccer team needed to make a statement. Their 2-0 win over archrivals Saint Mary’s at Wickwire Stadium last Friday was just that.
Late goals from Andrew Hutchison and Ross Hagen allowed the Tigers to put to rest a week that had seen them go 1–1–2 in their last four games, including a brutal 6–1 blowout at the hands of Saint Mary’s in the reverse fixture.
“It was a real character win for us,” said head coach Pat Nearing. “Obviously after the last game with Saint Mary’s a lot of questions were being asked: ‘What happened, what happened, what happened?’ But we answered all the questions tonight.”
It was Dal’s best game of the season, featuring strong passing play and a quick-paced attack for all ninety minutes.
SMU held their ground, giving nothing to Dal until the 20th minute when their conviction wavered. Tiger-turned-Husky Zach Bauld was booked for a silly, undisciplined lunge into Nathan Beck 85 yards from his full-back position.
Dal had their close calls, too. In just the seventh minute Ian Coke used his speed to beat Jordan Mannix on the wing. Ben Ur fouled the Huskies’ striker as Coke tried to round him, and was probably lucky to escape a red card.
Andrew Dalziel was the next Tiger to struggle with the pace of the Huskies out wide. Jonattan Cordoba again got past Mannix and this time Dalziel brought him down on a clear break, again escaping with just a foul and a yellow card.
The inevitable red card came in the 63rd minute with another moment of madness from Bauld. Beaten by Tyler Lewars on the wing, Bauld jumped hard into a late tackle, earning a second yellow card.
Dal took advantage of their extra man and eventually made it pay in the 80th minute when Hutchison beat SMU keeper Adam Miller to a through pass before rounding him and slotting it home.
Ten minutes later, Ross Hagen sealed the game with sixth goal of the season. Hutchison, held off by a Husky defender, slid a pass back to Hagen at the top of the box. The Tigers’ midfielder tapped in the easy goal with Miller off his angle.
“Last time we played them, we won 6–1,” said Huskies defender Shawn Kodejs. “I think we came with high expectations. I think we took them a little bit too lightly.”
The Tigers needed the win badly after two weeks filled with rumblings and rumours of discontent around the team.
“It’s a great win for the team,” said Nearing. “It’s probably our best performance of the year, by far.”
The win moves Dal to a much more respectable position in the table, up to third place behind undefeated St. FX and Saint Mary’s, both of whom are nationally ranked.
“Last Wednesday we just got unlucky at the beginning and got discouraged,” said Dal captain Ross Hagen. “The only real difference is we came out a little bit harder today; we wanted to prove to the league that we’re one of the top teams.”
“We prepared for Cordoba better,” said Nearing, after the Huskies star scored twice in the team’s first meeting. Nearing also switched Nathan Rogers to right back and started Nathan Beck, who has been fighting an injury through the first half of the season. Kerry Weymann, who struggled with a hip injury in the 6–1 loss to Saint Mary’s, was back on Friday.
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