(HALIFAX, NS) Tom Pheulpin's (San Antonio, TX) goal, on a penalty kick in the 70th minute, was the lone goal in the UNB REDS 1-0 win over the Dalhousie Tigers, Saturday in Halifax.
The game, played before a limited crowd of 250 at Dal's Wickwire Field, was the Atlantic University Sport season opener for both sides.
The UNB victory came in the regular season debut for new REDS' head coach Barry Morrison.
"It feels great to get a win in my debut," said Morrison. "It's been difficult to prepare, with so little information on other teams, how they're coming out of Covid, so we really didn't know how we'd match up. Dal is a strong team and were a great challenge for us. We're happy with the three points."
The first 18 minutes of the match saw six corner kicks with lots of back and forth faced-paced action.
The first real chance of the game came in the 21st minute, after UNB's Mathew Quigley (Chester Basin, NS) crossed a pass into the goal area that was tipped by Tigers goalkeeper Aiden Rushenas (Toronto, ON). The ball continued through the area with no UNB players in the vicinity able to tap it into the goal.
Rushenas was tested early and often, with corner kick after corner kick, but kept the Tigers in the game with some nice saves aided by some timely clears by Tigers defenders.
In the 37th minute, Dalhousie moved the ball into the UNB 18-yard box with some fancy footwork by Matthew Larter (Waverley, NS). The Tigers made some accurate passes, but ultimately could not find a lane for a clear shot.
A few minutes later, Ayoub Al-Arabi (Halifax, NS) forced a turnover and kicked the ball ahead, beating the defender in a foot race, but was barely beaten to the ball by charging REDS' keeper Louis-Charles Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, QC).
The first 15 minutes of the second half saw UNB dictating most of the play, but in the 60th minute the Tigers' Jacob Bolton (Halifax, NS) found Al-Arabi in the box with a high pass, but by the time the ball was controlled the REDS were able to cancel any scoring chance for Dal.
In the 70' minute, the Tigers were defending a strong push by UNB when a blocked shot inside the box made contact with a Dalhousie players' hand resulting in a penalty kick. Pheulpin, a fifth-year player, stepped to the spot for the REDS and fired one into the bottom left corner of the net to break a 0-0 deadlock.
The 78' minute saw the REDS pressing again, but a gorgeous stop by Rushenas on Keji Adeniyi (Mansfield, UK) seemed to spark the Tigers offense.
The majority of the last 10 minutes of play was spent in the UNB zone, with Dal looking for an equalizer.
The Tigers had ample opportunities to tie the match, but UNB survived push, taking the match 1-0.
"I think the biggest separator for us today was our commitment to the cause," said Coach Morrison. "We showed great unity and team effort to come away with the win. The players on the bench brought energy to their teammates on the field, which inspired our performance."
Pheulpin earned Subway Player of the Game honours.
The REDS' next match sees them take on Acadia, on Sunday, at 3:15pm.
Dalhousie will look to get into the win column on Thursday when they visit Saint Mary's.
RECAP BY: With files from Troy Langstaff/for Dal Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Trevor MacMillan/for Dal Athletics