Antigonish, NS – The U SPORTS No. 10 ranked STFX X-Men picked up their second win of the season with a 2-1 victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies Sunday afternoon at STFX Stadium.
The win moves the X-Men to 2-2-0, while the Huskies sit at 1-1-0 in AUS action to date.
Prior to the game, STFX honoured the memory and legacy of former goaltender coach Patrick Rutayisire who lost his battle with cancer this summer. Patrick's son Mikey presented the game ball and the X-Men and X-Women student-athletes gathered around the center field circle as all the STFX keepers booted soccer balls to the sky in tribute to their mentor.
The game started with Saint Mary's having the first solid scoring chance as Sean Freeman (Halifax, NS) broke in alone but his shot went just wide of the STFX net.
Cameron Shaw (Ottawa, ON) and Logan Rieck (Cambridge, ON) had great shots on goal early in the first half for the X-Men and Stephen Bowen (Halifax, NS) had to be sharp in the Huskies net.
Dyan Vil (Ottawa, ON) opened the scoring in the game, chasing down a long ball from Charlie Waters (Blackpool, ENG) down the wing. Davis made the initial save from in close then Vil knocked in his own rebound.
SMU midfielder Adam Dunsworth (Halifax, NS) had a chance to tie the game in extra time at the end of the first half, but X keeper Will Veinot (Bedford, NS) was well-positioned for the save and the 1-0 STFX lead held up until halftime.
The Huskies started the second half strong as forward Ishamari Lewin (Winnipeg, MB) - who entered the game after halftime - directed a low shot on the STFX goal and Veinot made a diving save to keep the X lead intact.
He had another save off a SMU free kick from the top of the 18-yard box in the 59th minute. The X-Men then added their insurance marker two minutes later. Waters brought the ball down field and made a nice feed to Kyle Cordeiro (Oakville, ON) who deked his Huskies defender and fired a shot past Bowen.
The Huskies closed the gap in the 72nd minute when Freeman made no mistake on a penalty shot following an X foul. A minute later Colton Kaiser (Chester Basin, NS) had a low shot that missed just wide of the X net as the Huskies ramped up their game, pressuring for the equalizer.
The X-Men subbed in several fresh legs and freshman midfielder Isaac VanWychen (Middle Musquodobit, NS) dinged a hard shot off the post, narrowly missing a chance to score his first AUS marker.
The blue and white held on for the remainder of the game to take home the one-goal victory. Kyle Cordeiro was named the Player of the Game for the X-Men. Saint Mary's defender Dunsworth earned the same distinction for his squad.
Next on the AUS schedule sees the Huskies travelling to Newfoundland for a pair of games against the Memorial Sea-Hawks on September 16th and 17th. The X-Men will travel to Sackville, N.B. on Friday, September 15th to take on the Mount Allison Mounties in a 7:15 pm game.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics
