Royals & Mariners At The Nationals

Story courtesy of the CCAA

Day 2 at the CCAA National soccer championship was another exciting one. All three PACWEST teams are in the running for a CCAA national medal.

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Douglas Royals 2, Keyano Huskies 0

The Douglas College Royals will play for a National Championship on Saturday afternoon after a 2-0 win over the Keyano Huskies.

The first half was capped in stoppage time when Edris Najm hammered a curling free kick into the corner of the net to give Douglas the lead at half.

The Royals applied pressure all game long on the Huskies, who couldn't get much going until the final moments of the game. Keyano's goalkeeper, Jonathan Bruggeling, travelled the full length of the field to try help his team get on the board. However Ryo Mizuno stood tall in the Douglas net, making two huge saves to rob the Huskies efforts.

Then on a last-minute corner kick, the Royals' Race Williams was able to outpace his opponents to score the 2-0 win as the final whistle sounded.

Douglas Royals Player of the Game: Race Williams

VIU Mariners 6, NAIT Ooks 1

The VIU Mariners overcame an early deficit offense fired on all cylinders after a first half deficit, defeating the NAIT Ooks 6-1

The Ooks opened the scoring just 16 minutes in as an Ali Musse free kick slipped through the legs of David Turkstra. However, just four minutes later, Hussein Behery was taken down in the box, sending Shun Takano to the penalty spot for the second time in as many nights. Takano once again buried the ball in the low left corner, tying the game for the Mariners.

The Mariners were able to take the lead into halftime when Chris Merrimen's free kick cross was volleyed in by defender Ryan McCurdy for a fantastic finish.

In the second half, the Mariners continued their attack, adding four more goals. Fernando Fenollosa and Jordan Degraaf each contributed singles before McCurdy and Takano added their second scores of the match.

Today's games set up the medal round matchups, including the National Championship final which will see the VIU Mariners face the Douglas Royals for CCAA Gold on Saturday. The Bronze Medal competitors will be determined by a series of games on Friday, when the Durham Lords face the Keyano Huskies and Holland Hurricanes challenge the NAIT Ooks.

VIU Mariners Player of the Game: Ryan McCurdy

WOMEN

Elans de Garneau 1, Douglas Royals 0

Douglas and Garneau started the game at lightning speed to gain a direct spot in the National Championship final on Saturday. Both teams played evenly, but, Garneau showed a much more technical edge. Douglas’s Pettenton and Hamilton were the players to watch out for in the first half with their high speed advantage.

Garneau’s team had a majority of the chances to get a goal with attempted shots by Ariane Langlois and Eve Malo. However, Douglas’s defence was strong and kept the ball away from the net. Huge back to back reflex saves by both goalkeepers Alexia Gazzola and Anne Marie Laroche both kept this game scoreless. The score was 0-0 at halftime.

The second half followed much of the same narrative as the first. Douglas’ pace grew over time in the second half, running tirelessly against Garneau’s backline. Teams settled into a back and forth pattern to control the ball for most of the half. Zooming past the Douglas team, substitute player Judy Gagnon scored the first goal of the game for Garneau with only seven minutes left before the end of the match. After two additional substitutions, five minutes of playing time was added to the game before regulation. Unfortunately, in these five minutes a red card was received by Mikayla Hamilton resulting in Douglas playing a player down the rest of the way.

Players of the Game were Alexa Gazolla of Douglas