Halifax, NS – The X-Men soccer team (5-3-3) leaped into sole possession of third place with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies (2-6-3) Sunday afternoon.
The game capped off a two-win weekend for the X-Men who also defeated Moncton by the same 3-0 score Friday night in Antigonish.
On Sunday Randy Ribeiro (Cambridge, ON) and Liam Elbourne (Halifax, NS) scored less than two minutes apart in the first half to give the X-Men a 2-0 lead over the Huskies. Ribeiro, a veteran midfielder, scored unassisted in the 26th minute and freshman midfielder Elbourne followed up in the 27th minute, also unassisted.
Elbourne capped off the scoring for the X-Men with his second goal of the game in the 58th minute, early in the second half. Dylan Lawrence (Ottawa, ON) assisted on the play.
The Huskies were unable to solve StFX goalkeeper Thomas Pieroway (Conception Bay, NF) who had three saves in nets for the shutout win.
The X-Men outshot the Huskies by an 18-8 margin. Adam Miller had 8 saves in the losing effort for SMU.
With 18 points on the season, the X-Men are one point ahead of fourth place Acadia and two points up on fifth place UPEI. Dalhousie are tied with Memorial for sixth place with 13 points apiece though Memorial are guaranteed a playoff berth as the host team.
The AUS championship is slated for Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 in St. John's, NF. UNB and Cape Breton have already punched their tickets to the championship tournament.
The X-Men will face the Capers on Wed, Oct. 22nd as they will play a 7:15 pm game in Sydney, NS. They wrap up the season with a game at Dalhousie on Saturday, Oct. 26th. Acadia has one game left at Mount Allison and UPEI will host Memorial and Cape Breton. Dalhousie also has a game remaining against Memorial.