Hosts CBU to face challenge from hungry challengers
by Corey LeBlanc
(SYDNEY, N.S.) Only one thing has been able to derail a dynastic run for the Cape Breton University Capers—a season wiped out by the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020—as champions of Atlantic University Sport (AUS) men’s soccer.
The Capers will be shooting for their sixth consecutive conference banner later this week when they host the 2022 Subway AUS Men’s Soccer Championship—on home turf, at Ness Timmons Field on the CBU campus in Sydney.
The top-two finishers in the conference regular season—the undefeated Capers (10-0-2) and rival STFX X-Men (7-3-2)—collected 32 and 23 points, respectively.
Orange crush
After tying the UPEI Panthers in their AUS season opener, CBU finished with 10 victories and one tie, including a five-game winning streak to end the campaign.
The Capers—who are, as of this week, ranked first in the U SPORTS top-10—had the highest-scoring offense (28) and stingiest defense (seven) in the AUS.
Kairo Coore (Whitby, ON) and AUS first-team all-star striker Cian Lynch (Dublin, Ireland) led the quick-strike attack with six goals apiece, while Lynch finished in a tie for third in the conference scoring race with 11 points.
Second-team all-stars and midfielders Owen Sheppard (St. John’s NL) and Jacob Spizzirri (Woodbridge, ON)—also the AUS rookie of the year—contributed five and four goals, respectively.
First-team all-star defender Jamie Watson (Kirkcaldy, Scotland)—sophomore and team captain—led the AUS with eight assists, while also helping to anchor a rock-solid defense, along with second-team all-star defender Ben Fortuin (Maidenhead, England).
First-team all-star goalkeeper Daniel Clarke (Milton Keynes, England) fashioned an 8-0-2 record, while only allowing five goals and finishing with a conference-best five shutouts.
STFX had the second highest-scoring team (27 goals—only one behind CBU—with sophomore midfielder and first-team all-star Logan Rieck (Cambridge, ON) tying for the most goals (nine), while leading the AUS with 15 points. First-team all-star midfielder Kyle Cordeiro (Oakville, ON), with six goals, and Samuel Barrowcliffe (Princeton, ON), with five, were White and Blue players amongst the top-10 scorers in the conference.
As a reflection of the depth in their offense, 20 goals came from players other than that dynamic trio.
Veteran defender Lewis Dye (Fall River, NS)—a first-team all-star defender—will be at the forefront of ensuring X keeps a clean sheet.
Oliver Storseth (Antigonish, NS) of the X-Men is this season’s recipient of the Student-Athlete Community Service Award.
The top-seeded Capers are playing for their ninth AUS banner, while the X-Men are seeking their first since wrapping up back-to-back titles in 1994.
In two matches during the regular season, the Capers won 3-2 and the sides played to a 1-1 tie.
Although STFX and the UNB Reds (7-3-2) finished with 23 points apiece, the X-Men garnered second place and a bye because of a 1-0 edge in head-to-head play.
MVP leading REDS
As for the third-seeded REDS, they will face the sixth-seeded Dalhousie Tigers (5-3-4) in the first quarter-final match of the championship tournament on Wednesday, November at 3 p.m. ADT.
UNB gave up the second-fewest goals (11) in the conference, with keeper Louis-Charles Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, QC) playing every minute in the regular season, recording three shutouts and surrendering less than one marker per contest. He also made 60 stops—the most in the conference.
The scoring tandem of strikers Keji Adeniyi (London, UK)—the conference’s most valuable player—and Luke Rosettani (Kanata, ON), both first-team all-star strikers, are as dangerous as any in the conference. Adeniyi-Olonade, with eight goals, finished second in AUS scoring with 11 points, while Rosettani tied CBU’s Lynch for third, collecting six goals and five assists.
Another all-star—second-team midfidler Lars Gierull (Ottawa, ON)—will also be a key cog for AUS coach of the year Barry Morrison and his REDS.
For the Tigers, who had the fewest goals scored (14) and allowed (17) of the six playoff contenders, they will need a big effort from striker Mohammed Jaber (Halifax, NS), who led the Black and Gold with five goals, along with second-team all-star goalkeeper Aiden Rushenas (Toronto, ON) and his 50 saves (second in the AUS) and four shutouts.
Kyle Routledge (Halifax, NS), a second-team all-star midfielder, will also be counted on by Dalhousie to contribute quality minutes.
The UNB-Dalhousie winner will play STFX in semi-final action on Thursday, November 3 at 3 p.m. ADT.
Hungry Huskies
The second quarter-final match on November, at 6 p.m. ADT, will feature the Saint Mary’s Huskies (6-3-3) and Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (5-3-4) in a battle of fourth and fifth seeds, respectively.
The Huskies, who made it to the AUS title game in 2021 (a 4-0 loss to the Capers), are led by sophomore first-team all-star striker Sean Freeman (Halifax, NS), who accounted for half of his team’s offensive output with nine goals this season; five of those markers were game-winners.
Jensen Brown (Enfield, NS) and Ryan Davis (Lake Loon, NS) played eight and four matches, respectively, while combining for 57 saves. Davis had three shutouts, while Brown collected two. Whatever keeper gets the nod will rely on the talents of first-team all-star defender Cameron Zinn (Bridgewater, NS) to help keep the high-flying Moncton attack grounded.
Second-team all-star midfielder Cian Tousignant-Osiadhail (Timberlea, NS)—a fifth-year senior—will be one of the Saint Mary’s players counted on to lead the Huskies back to the AUS championship match.
Moncton will lean on a defense anchored by goalkeeper Claudio Masimengo (Dieppe, NB), who played every minute in the regular season, while finishing third in the conference with 49 saves. He also tied for second in shutouts with four.
Strikers Mohamed Lamine Touré (Moncton, NB) and Jonathan Kisse (Moncton, NB) led Moncton with six and five goals, respectively. The pair finished with eight points a piece while earning second-team all-star nods for 2022.
The Saint Mary’s-Moncton winner will face CBU in semi-final action on Thursday, November 3 at 6 p.m. ADT.
Heading west
The winners of the semi-final matches on Thursday will take the pitch on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. ADT in the AUS championship game.
All five tournament matches will be available via webcast live at www.AUStv.ca.
The conference finalists will participate in the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Soccer Championship from November 10-13, which will be hosted by Thompson Rivers University at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops, BC.