Royals Hand Tommies First Loss of Season, Set to Play for Gold Saturday
Calgary, AB – The St. Thomas Tommies saw their 15-game undefeated streak come to an end in the CCAA Men's Soccer National gold medal semi-final with a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Douglas Royals.
The Royals will now face the Humber Hawks on Saturday in the CCAA gold medal match, while the Tommies will face the NAIT Ooks Friday at 3:00pm for the opportunity to move on to the bronze medal match.
The Royals began the game by controlling possession for the bulk of the first half, but the Tommies backline, led by Ryan MacKinnon (Fredericton, NB) who would end up being named Player of the Game for STU, would not falter.
"There was a lot of positives and a lot things we could have worked on," said Tommies' assistant coach, Eric Prior about the start of the game. "I think there was a lot of big game jitters from our guys."
It wasn't until the 36th when a St. Thomas foul led to a Douglas free kick where the ball would rattle around in the box before ending up in the back of the net, with forward Rozmehr Aghabaygy being credited with the goal.
"From our point of view it looked like Luke [Ewen] was physically hit by one of the other players," said Prior about the play. "Sometimes calls don't go your way, but we need to focus on things that are in our control."
The Royals would take that lead into halftime, but the Tommies came out strong in the second half creating numerous chances, leading to Brett Springer being taken down and the Tommies getting a free kick from about 30 yards out, but nothing would come of it.
Burhan Waisy, who was the Player of the Game for the Royals, led a strong back line for his team, keeping the Tommies off the scoreboard.
Things would get heated in the 79th minute when William Benoit (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) was called for a foul, leading to a yellow card, and the teams would come together at midfield, but cooler heads would prevail.
Armaan Bhagwanji would cap the scoring for the Royals in the 89th minute, sealing the victory for his team.
"The big thing for us will be being more physical," added Prior about what his team will need to improve upon if they want to get a result against the Ooks on Friday. "Our guys know how to play soccer, they know the formation and that was the first time we have been down two goals all season, so it was new territory for the boys. NAIT is strong team and our boys need to come in with our positive attitude and give us a full 90 minutes again."
The Tommies will take on the NAIT Ooks Friday at 3:00pm MST, with the winner advancing to the bronze medal game.