The men’s and women’s Memorial Sea-Hawks soccer teams were home this weekend for a two-game series against the Cape Breton Capers.
MUN Women’s Team Earns Crucial Series Split
The MUN women’s soccer team was in for a tall task facing off against CBU, as they have consistently been one of the top teams in the AUS.
Not only did CBU win the AUS championship last season, they did so without losing a single game. In fact, the last time the Capers had even lost a game came back on September 9th, 2023, over two years ago when they lost 3-1 to StFX.
During the Capers championship run last season, they faced off against the Sea-Hawks in a massive semi-final game, where they would breeze by MUN, winning 4-0.
This was also a significant series for MUN because CBU sat only one point behind them in the AUS standings, meaning if MUN did struggle against CBU, they would have likely fell a few spots in the standings, as all the teams placed behind Memorial in the standings also earned points this weekend.
Luckily for the Sea-Hawks, they came out guns a-blazing Saturday afternoon, as they completely dominated Cape Breton. Zoe Rowe would open the scoring in the 4th minute of the match, as she added her league leading 10th goal of the season.
The Sea-Hawks would continue to build off of their early momentum, as Jen Milligan would add her 3rd goal of the season in the 14th minute, giving MUN a 2-0 edge early.
The Sea-Hawks would net one more goal late in the first half, as Isabella Hoddinott scored her first goal of the season in the 43rd minute, and gave MUN a massive 3-0 lead.
That was all the offence that Memorial needed, as they cruised their way through the rest of the match and would hand Cape Breton their first loss in over two years.
While MUN dominated the game on Saturday, it was a bit of a different story on Sunday. Cape Breton looked much better and was able to keep up with Memorial, and it paid off for them, as Grace Hannaford scored in the 54th minute, which would ultimately hand the Capers a 1-0 lead.
While MUN was unable to score in game two, it was still a very respectable performance, and a match that they were in until the very end.
Standings wise, after the series, Memorial maintains their one point lead over Cape Breton, and now sit in third place with four games left on the season. As of now, Memorial would be the top seeded in the quarter-finals and would face off against StFX.
MUN men’s Team drops both games, extend losing streak to four games
The Men’s team entered the series on a two game losing streak, after starting the season 2-0-1. This was the opposite of Cape Breton, who entered the series red hot on a three game winning streak.
Both teams entered the series tied in the standings with 10 points, meaning these two games had huge ramifications on the standings moving into the last quarter of the season.
Memorial got off to a great start Saturday afternoon, as Andy Knight netted his first goal of the season in the 16th minute, giving his Sea-Hawks an early 1-0 lead. That lead would later evaporate during the dying minutes of the first half, as Max Piepgrass tied the game, before Evan Cunningham scored the game winning goal in the 57th minute to ultimately give the Capers a 2-1 win.
The Sunday afternoon encore was much of the same, as CBU would yet again come out on top 2-1, thanks to a two goal performance from Jamie Nicholson. Luke Peddle scored the lone goal of the game for the Sea-Hawks, scoring his third of the season in the 90th and final minute of play.
MUN exits this series now on a four-game losing skid, and will hope to get back on track next weekend, as they head to Nova Scotia to face off against Acadia and Mount Allison in their final road trip of the season.
Looking at the men’s standings, the Sea-Hawks now sit in the sixth and final playoff spot, with Acadia two points behind them in the standings. That game is yet again going to have huge potential playoff ramifications for the Sea-Hawks.
