The Blues Face Bruins In Nationals Opener

The CCAA National soccer championship tournament opens on Wednesday on Prince Edward Island as Holland College will host the eight best teams in the nation.

The PACWEST champion Capilano Blues draw the Sheridan Bruins from Toronto in their opening game on Wednesday at 1:30pm PST. The Blues are coming off a season that saw them finish 8-2-2, first in the PACWEST as they received the bye into the gold medal game. They beat the Langara Falcons 2-1 in the in the final winning their third PACWEST title in the last four seasons.

The Blues have medaled in their last two trips to the national championship finishing with a bronze in 2016 and silver in 2015. The last time they won national gold was in 2008 when TRU in Kamloops hosted the championship tournament. As a matter of fact since 1983 they have won national gold six times. The last time they won out east in the Maritimes was in 1990 when they won at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia.

The Blues will face the Bruins who are a wildcard entry from the OCAA. They finished 5-0-5 in the Ontario Central Division on route to national berth. Their only loss this season came at the hands of the Humber Hawks in the OCAA title game.

The Bruins offence outscored the opposition 26-7 in the regular season and they allowed only four goals in their four playoff games. Their leading scorer is Francis Ameyaw who tallied six goals while Cyrus Rollocks and Rahim Thorpe each had five during the regular campaign.

On the backend they rotated a pair of keepers. Chester Ashby played six of their 10 games allowing just four goals and recorded three shutouts.

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