Soccer X-Men lose AUS quarterfinal heartbreaker

StFX - 0, UPEI - 0
Penalty Kicks StFX 4, UPEI 5

The number 5 seeded X-Men soccer team suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in penalty kicks Saturday afternoon at the hands of the UPEI Panthers (4) in AUS quarterfinal action played at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

The two teams battled each other and battled the weather throughout the game but at the end of 90 minutes of play, no goals had been scored. The scoring drought continued through the two overtime periods and the teams remained deadlocked at 0-0, setting up the penalty kick finale.

Both the Panthers and X-Men exchanged penalty shot goals for the first four shooters. Scoring goals for StFX were Michael Marousek, Kareem Henry, Kieran Gilfoy and Josh Weinberger, while Panthers goals were scored by Nathan Snowie, Jimmie Mayaleh, Logan Paynter and Cole MacMillan.  

Philip MacDonald scored the fifth goal for the Panthers to put them ahead 5-4, and StFX’s final shooter Max Maund missed just wide, as the Panthers advanced to the semi-finals.

Andrew MacDonald took care of the goaltending duties for the X-Men, while Timmo Kalinowski earned the win in nets for the Panthers, who moved on to play Dalhousie (2) in the semi-finals.

Defender Ryan Casey played a strong game for the X-Men and earned Player of the Game honors.

The AUS championship was delayed by one day due to snow accumulation on Dalhousie’s Wickwire field on Friday. In the other quarterfinal game, Moncton (6) defeated UNB (3) by a 1-0 score in overtime. They advance to play the top seeded Cape Breton Capers in the other semi-final game on Sunday.

StFX Sports Information