Perfect pre-season
UPEI men’s squad doesn’t allow a goal in defeating Mounties, Hurricanes, Huskies, Tigers
The UPEI Panthers men’s soccer team finished off their preseason on a high note Sunday afternoon with a 6-0 crushing of the Mount Allison Mounties at the UPEI turf.
This has to be one of the most successful pre-season schedules on record as the Panthers completed their four-game run without conceding a goal while scoring a combined
15 against Dalhousie, Saint
Mary’s, Holland College and
Mount Allison.
“The whole team has been playing really well since we started training,” said centre back Cohen Reddick. “To put four games like that and have no goals against is a credit to all the work our players and coaches have put in.”
Sunday’s game started off fairly even until midway through the second half when the Panthers started to put together their passing game that frustrated the Mounties, who were unable to get more than one or two touches on the ball before being smothered by UPEI players.
The Panthers split the goals evenly in each half with Nail Harte (34th minute), Reddick (36th minute) and Moe Jaber (44th minute) giving the Panthers a 3-0 advantage going into the second half.
Rookie Duncan Murray (57th minute) notched his first, followed by Reddick’s second of the game (63rd minute) that had to be the prettiest goal of the game from a blistering free kick 25 yards out. Noah Bitar closed out the scoring in the 87th minute.
Fifth-year keeper Nathan Ford picked up his second clean sheet of the pre-season as he and Brett Strba split the first four contests.
“We played the system that coach (Lewis) Page has given us and its obviously been working for us,” said Reddick, a Cole Harbour, N.S., native. “It’s a much better start than we had last year, so hopefully this will contribute as to how we play the season.”
With points on the line from here on in the Panthers hope to continue where they left off with a doubleheader this weekend in St. John’s, N.L., against the Memorial Sea-Hawks as the Atlantic University Sport season begins.
Panthers 4, Hurricanes 0 The annual pre-season derby between cross-town rivals the Holland College Hurricanes and the Panthers was played Saturday evening at the Panther turf before a good crowd from fans of both squads.
It was the Panther fans though that dominated in the celebration as UPEI romped to an easy 4-0 victory.
Again, it was the solid defence that limited the Hurricanes to one chance, a saved penalty shot, late in the second half by Strba.
Two first-half goals by Lucas Ross (32nd minute) and Sam Smiley (44th minute) gave UPEI a well-deserved first half lead. The second half saw Jaber (56th minute) and Harte (88th minute) round out the scoring for the Panthers.
“I think today’s result all started with our defending,” Page said. “One goal chance tonight, three clean sheets in a row now. I also thought our ball movement was really good. We moved the ball quick and pulled the Hurricanes into bad positions.”
The stats were a bit lopsided as well with UPEI having 23 shots toward goal with 15 shots on goal as opposed to one for the Hurricanes. Holland College were out chanced 13-1. UPEI out fouled the Hurricanes 16-4 and edged in corner kicks 10-1.