X-Men Edge REDS In OT For Title
(FREDERICTON, NB) The STFX X-Men beat the UNB REDS 1-0 in overtime to win the 2024 Atlantic University Sport men's soccer championship, presented by Bell, Sunday afternoon at UNB's BMO Centre.
Kyle Cordeiro's (Oakville, ON) goal in the 114th minute of play lifted the X-Men to their second consecutive conference title.
"It's mixed emotions right now," said REDS captain Olivier Menard (Ottawa, ON) as the X-Men celebrated their victory. "We came in as the sixth seed, beat the third seed, beat the second seed, and took the first seed all the way to 120 minutes and the final score was 1-0, so I'm so proud of this group of boys. We showed AUS what we were made of this season and made ourselves proud, especially in these playoffs."
In a goalless first half, the No. 6 seeded REDS pushed the top-ranked X-Men, creating turnovers but no real scoring opportunities, and pressuring the X attack with solid defending.
The X-Men had the only real scoring chance of the half, in the 13th minute when Charlie Waters (Blackpool, UK) broke in from the wing and drove a hard shot on the UNB net.
In another X opportunity, Waters and Moustafa collided. A shaken Waters lay on the turf for a couple of minutes before leaving the game temporarily.
The teams finished the first half with 0-0 still on the scoreboard.
An early second half attack by the REDS resulted in a collision between UNB's Stefano D'Ambrogio (Toronto, ON) and X-Men keeper Samuel Diltz (Newmarket, ON). Diltz took the worst of the incident but remained in the game.
The physical play continued when UNB's Harrison McGinn (Jewett's Mills, NB) took down X midfielder Dyan Vil (Ottawa, ON) along the sideline at about the 62-minute mark. That incident drew a crowd, but officials stepped in quickly to disperse the combatants.
With less than three minutes on the clock STFX substitute Myroslav Zastavnyy (Toronto, ON) took a pass in the middle and fired a hard shot from about 30-yards out that sailed just over the crossbar of the UNB net.
The REDS had two late chances off corner kicks, but both were turned away by the X-Men just ahead of the referee's full-time whistle.
Neither side could muster a decent chance during either of the overtime halves until just after the 113-minute mark, when Corderio made a long run through the middle of the field to a ball put near the top of the UNB box. Moustafa charged from the goal line in an attempt to get to the ball as well, but Cordeiro beat him there and fired the ball past him for the game's only goal.
UNB's Christopher Schmit (Vancouver, BC) and X's Luke Green (Fall River, NS) were named players of the game for their respective sides while Cordeiro was named MVP of the championship tournament.
Both teams will now prepare for the U SPORTS men's soccer championship, at Ontario Tech University, November 7th to 10th, in Oshawa, Ontario.
"Everything we did in this game we can take that with confidence going to nationals," said Menard. "Just keep doing what we've been doing all season and build on our identity and take that with us to Toronto.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics