X-Men Soccer win second consecutive AUS championship 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 114^th minute of play lifted the X-Men to their second consecutive conference title.

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 13^th 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 7^th to 10^th, in Oshawa, Ontario.

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RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics

X-Men midfielder Kyle Cordeiro was named the AUS Tournament MVP