Kamloops, BC – The No. 2 seeded Montreal Carabins defeated the No. 7 seeded STFX X-Men 3-0 Thursday afternoon in the first quarterfinal game at the U SPORTS men's soccer championship, presented by RBC.
X-Men head coach Graham Kennedy noted, "I thought we competed well in the first half, but their quality of play really came to the forefront in the second half. Perhaps our youth and inexperience started to show and Montreal's depth rose to the surface. They are a quality team, there's a reason they are one of the top programs in the country."
U SPORTS first team All-Canadian midfielder Quentin Paumier opened the scoring in the game with a goal for the Carabins six minutes in as he connected on a high shot off a free kick 30 yards out that was just over the outstretched hands of X-Men keeper Samuel Diltz.
X-Men freshman forward and U SPORTS all-rookie Samuel Barrowcliffe raced down the sideline in the 12th minute but collided with the Carabins keeper before getting off a shot.
Diltz had a nice save four minutes later off another Montreal set piece, getting his hands on a one-touch ball after a free kick.
Cameron Shaw had a great scoring chance for the X-Men 19 minutes in after continued X pressure as he was in tight for a point black shot that was deflected by Montreal goalkeeper Jordan Tisseur.
Barrowcliffe had another chance in the 27th minute as U SPORTS second team all-Canadian midfielder Logan Rieck fed him a pass through but his high chip shot was handled by Tisseur.
The X-Men diverted a pair of Carabins corner kicks late in the first half as the score remained 1-0 in favor of the RSEQ champion Montreal squad after 45 minutes.
The second half saw the X-Men come out searching for the equalizer. Defender Luke Green sent a long free kick all the way from midfield to the Carabins net five minutes in, but the ball was caught by Tisseur.
The second ranked Carabins then pressed on offense as they had a series of scoring chances. Thierry Côté, a second team All-Canadian forward hit one off the cross bar in the 54th minute but Diltz jumped on the rebound. The STFX keeper came up with several key saves to keep his team in it, including several scrambles from in close.
X-Men defenders Lewis Dye, a first team U SPORTS All-Canadian, and Green were also strong on the backline clearing balls from the X box.
X-Men first year defender Ethan Larsen received his second yellow card of the game in the 58th minute as he was sent off the field, forcing the X-Men to play with a man down for the remaining 32 minutes of the game.
The Carabins capitalized in the 64th minute and scored their second goal of the game. Paumier took a free kick from just outside the STFX 18-yard box that hot the cross bar but the ball came right back to the boots of Côté whi easily deposited it into the open STFX net.
Kennedy commented, "I think in the second half the red card was a changing point in the game. And the second goal they scored, the end product of a set piece, put the nail in the coffin for us. "
Côté thought he scored his second of the match two minutes later but the play was whistled offside.
X-Men midfielder Kyle Cordeiro went down with an injury in the 71st minute and had to come out of the game.
As the X-Men struggled to generate scoring chances, a turnover in the 76th minute led to the third Carabins goal as Salim Eliasy capitalized and scored off a pass from Lohan Lefevre.
The X-Men subbed in all the fresh legs in the latter part of the second half but were unable to close the gap on the scoreboard.
The Nike player of the match for Montreal was Paumier, while Diltz had seven saves on the day to take home player of the game honours for STFX.
Upon reflecting on the game Coach Kennedy noted the speed of play element to the match, saying "They attack quickly, and are able to quickly change the point of attack, especially that area in front of the 18-yard box. If you give up free kicks in that area you can pay for it. We make teams pay for it when it happens to us and today we were on the receiving end of that."
"We have work to do, one of the biggest stories of the game was just how robust they are, physically in comparison to us. They are big, fast, strong, skilled, experienced, a little bit older, so we have some work to do."
With the loss, the X-Men are relegated to the consolation side of the tournament bracket and will now play in the consolation semifinal on Friday at 11:15 am Pacific time against the loser of the UBC-TMU game. Montreal advances to meet the UBC-TMU winner in the semifinals Friday at 5:00 pm.
"We're young and enthusiastic and want to play again, so tomorrow will be another learning experience for us but we'll be ready," concluded Kennedy.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics
X-Men keeper Samuel Diltz receives the Nike player of the game award