This past weekend the AUS Soccer playoffs took place, where the Memorial Sea-Hawks women’s soccer team went on a thrilling run all the way to the AUS finals.
Women’s team defeats Acadia in close quarterfinal matchup
In the lead up to the AUS Soccer Playoffs, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams had a final two-game home stand against StFX.
The women’s team had already clinched a playoff spot, and were fighting for a second place finish in the AUS, which would have given them a bye straight into the Semi-Finals.
Had they managed to beat StFX in both of their games, Memorial would have guaranteed their spot in the semis, however, they were unfortunately unable to beat StFX in either game, tying them both times and instead entered the playoffs ranked as the fourth seed, and facing off against fifth seeded Acadia.
This was a matchup that was tough to predict. Both teams only faced each other once during the regular season, where Memorial won a close game 1-0.
Luckily for the Sea-Hawks, it was the same story this time around, pulling out a 1-0 win, thanks to a late 78th minute goal from AUS goal scoring leader Zoe Rowe.
To Acadia’s credit, they did manage to keep pace in this game, out-shooting Memorial 13-6, but it wasn’t enough to beat Sea-Hawks keeper Leana Claude, who made three saves in the second half.
It was a different story for the men’s team, as they entered the final weekend of regular season action with a small two point cushion over Acadia for the final playoff spot, making their final regular season games against StFX crucial, whom they were ultimately unable to beat.
Still, they managed to pick up a tie in their second game, which was barely enough to clinch the final AUS playoff spot, thanks to Acadia dropping their final game of the season.
The Sea-Hawks entered the playoffs as huge underdogs, coming in as the lowest seed and barely scraping their way into the quarterfinals. They were hoping that the third time would against StFX as they ended up playing them for a third straight game
The Sea-Hawks were definitely outplayed in this match, but to their credit, they managed to keep it close throughout the whole 90 minutes. Unfortunately, the one and only goal of the game came from StFX’s Kyle Cordeiro, who scored at the 86th minute, leading to a heartbreaking loss for Memorial.
StFX outshot MUN 14-5, with seven of those shots being on target. MUN keeper Ben Collingwood made six saves in the match, including four in the second half. He is a big reason as to why this match was so close.
Unfortunately for the MUN men, this loss meant that their season was over, despite a valiant effort.
MUN Women stun top-seeded Dalhousie in penalties to advance to AUS Finals
After picking up a huge win Thursday against Acadia, MUN was in for an incredibly challenging matchup against the Dalhousie Tigers, who placed first overall in the league and had yet to lose all year.
The challenge Memorial was in for showed early in the game, as Niamh Martin Manuel opened the scoring for Dalhousie in the third minute, giving them an early 1-0 lead.
It was a very high shooting even match throughout, and Memorial finally broke through in the second half, when Sarah Jones scored the game tying goal in the 57th minute.
Neither team was able to score again in the 90 minute span of the match, forcing the game to go to overtime, where both the Sea-Hawks keeper and the Tigers keeper had to make some critical saves to keep their team alive, shutting down the opposing teams offences and forcing a penalty shootout to determine who goes to the AUS Final.
The penalty shootout was very close, but MUN was able to pull through, as Claire Langille scored the match winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout to send the Sea-Hawks to the finals.
Sea-Hawks keeper Leana Claude was a big reason why they won this game, and was given player of the game honours after the match.
Memorial falls to Cape Breton in AUS Finals
MUN would move on to the AUS finals to take on defending AUS champions Cape Breton Capers.
These teams faced off twice back in September. In their first meeting, the Sea-Hawks handed the Capers their first loss in over two years in a blowout 3-0 win. The second game saw Cape Breton come out with a 1-0 win.
This was a very even game and could have gone either way. The Capers opened the scoring in the 32nd minute thanks to a Tara Isama goal, helping them take a 1-0 lead into the half.
Entering the second half, the Sea-Hawks wasted no time as Hannah Fudge scored in the 46th minute, a crucial goal to tie the game.
The game remained tied for a large portion of the half, until the 81st minute, when Cape Breton’s Paige Allaby would score what was ultimately the championship winning goal, helping the Capers win their second straight AUS championship.
