The AUS Soccer Championships took place last weekend, with both Men’s and Women’s Sea-Hawk teams clinching spots to participate in the playoffs. The Men’s Championships took place in Fredericton, New Brunswick, while the Women’s Championships took place in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
The Men’s team wrapped up their regular season with an impressive seven wins, four losses and one tie. They also finished the regular season on a high note, winning four games in a row, helping them get second place in the AUS and earning a crucial bye straight to the Semi-Finals, where they faced off against the University of New Brunswick Reds, who ranked sixth in the AUS.
Unfortunately for Memorial, UNB pulled off the upset, winning a thrilling 3-2 match.
The Sea-Hawks came out swinging, six minutes into the game, forward Jacob Grant goal put them up 1-0. After that, things fell apart for MUN, as the Reds scored a 31st minute goal courtesy of Luke Rosettani, before adding to their lead in the 41st minute thanks to a goal by Ehab Moustafa to put UNB up 2-1 at the half.
The Reds then piled on another goal at the 58th minute, with Harrison McGinn giving them a 3-1 lead. Memorial showed sign of life at the 74th minute, as Jacob Grant netted his second goal of the game. Unfortunately, it was not enough, as the Sea-Hawks took a tough 3-2 loss, erasing their hopes at an AUS title and sadly ending their season.
The UNB Reds moved on to the finals, where they faced off against defending AUS Champions StFX. StFX came out on top in this one, winning a thrilling 1-0 match that went to overtime. Both teams will participate in the 2024 Men’s USports Soccer Championships, which will be hosted by Ontario Tech.
The women’s team entered the final weekend of the regular season sitting in the sixth and final playoff spot, however, they picked up two dominating home wins and climbed to fourth in the AUS standings, finishing with six wins, four losses and two ties on the season. It is also worth mentioning that they caught fire at the end of the regular season, winning four in a row. The Sea-Hawks also finished the season tied for the fewest goals allowed, only allowing nine goals in twelve games.
The Sea-Hawks played a quarter-final matchup against the fifth-seeded Dalhousie Tigers, a team that only finished one point behind them in the standings, and a team that in their only previous meeting on the season they tied with 0-0.
Memorial ended up on top in this match, winning a tight 1-0 game. The lone goal in this game came at the 58th minute, courtesy of Zoe Rowe. Memorial’s goalkeeper Leana Claude had a perfect game making 11 out of 11 possible saves.
This win allowed them to move on to the semi-finals for the 11th straight year, where they would face off against the first seeded Cape Breton Capers, who finished the season undefeated with ten wins, zero losses and 2 ties.
Unfortunately for Memorial, they were unable to defeat Cape Breton, losing 4-0. The Capers controlled the majority of the first half, outshooting MUN 12-4, and picking up a ton of momentum thanks to a 15th minute goal, courtesy of Lauren Rowe. The Capers picked up two more goals in the half to make it a large 3-0 deficit for the Sea-Hawks entering halftime. Memorial kept it closer in the second half, however an early 52nd minute goal from Alliyah Rowe extended the Capers lead to 4-0 and killing any hopes for a Sea-Hawk comeback.
Cape Breton moved on to the finals against the UNB Reds, winning 2-0. Both universities will participate in the 2024 Women’s USports soccer championships, which will be hosted by Dalhousie.
That will do it for the 2024 AUS Soccer Season for Memorial. It was definitely a tough ending for both teams, however it was definitely a success for the program, and they certainly have something to build on for next season.