WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The No. 1 seeded Cape Breton Capers will be playing in the AUS women's soccer championship game for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons after a 1-0 semi-final win over the No. 4 seeded STFX X-Women Thursday afternoon.
This season's AUS most valuable player, Alliyah Rowe (Kitchener, Ont.), scored the lone goal in the 24th minute to give the Capers an opportunity to play for a 12th AUS championship under head coach Ness Timmons.
Fittingly, Rowe scored the Capers' only goal after a regular season of 12 goals in 12 games.
Senate Letsie (Maseru, Lesotho) sent a high cross to Rowe who scored on a header to give the Capers an early lead that would stick for the remainder of the match.
"Honestly, when the ball came in, I knew the first thing the goalie would do is shift across, so I knew the best thing to do was get in that corner where she was originally coming from," recounted Rowe about the Capers' goal.
"It was a great game. I knew our team could stick out as long as we kept moving the ball and making our way up the field. I knew we could eventually finish and hold our ground once we got that first goal in," added Rowe.
The Capers had 15 shots, landing six on keeper Christina Gentile (Laval, Que.). Capers keeper Haley Kardas (Halifax, N.S.) was tested on two shots on goal and nine shots.
STFX's Talia Morin was named the X-Women player of the game, while Fatou Ndiaye grabbed the honours as the Subway Player of the Game for her flawless work as a defender for 90 minutes.
The Capers will now wait for the result of the second semi-final game between Dalhousie and Memorial for their championship opponent.
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Recap courtesy Acadia Communications
Talia Morin was named STFX's Subway Player of the Game following a hard fought @AUS_SUA semifinal loss to Cape Breton this afternoon. Proud of the X-Women for their teamwork on & off the pitch this season #goxgo #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/l4nTuqAhUY
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) November 3, 2022