Ford wins final start
UPEI men defeats Saint Mary’s
The UPEI men’s soccer team closed out the season Friday in front of a small cold crowd on a cold night with a 3-0 win over the Saint Mary’s Huskies at the Panther field turf.
It was a win coach Lewis Page was looking for.
“Tonight, we start building on our squad for next year,” he said.
UPEI showed their grit as they had nothing to play for except pride whereas the Huskies were still in the hunt for that elusive sixth playoff position with Moncton. Moncton’s 5-1 win over Dalhousie on Saturday put them into the Atlantic University Sport playoffs instead of Saint Mary’s.
UPEI opened the scoring one minute before the end of the first half, when midfielder Nacho Sanchez set up Sam Smiley at the top of the box. The half ended 1-0 and would remain that way late into the second half, when Sanchez scored the Panthers second goal on a penalty in the 86th minute. Finally, into stoppage time with the Huskies caught high pressing, striker Neil Harte selflessly set up Noah Bitar for his first goal as a Panther in his final game.
Keeper Nathan Ford, also playing in his final game as a Panther, picked up a well-deserved clean sheet and the player of the game award.
“The effort we got from the boys and the way we played the game was just the perfect way to go out,” said Ford. “I’m proud of all the fourth-year guys and if you told me four years ago, I would be in this position, I wouldn’t have believed you. The way things were going for us most of the season, it would have been easy for us to give up. But the character of the guys just motivated me to come back.”
The Panthers improved to 2-7-3 while the Huskies finished 4-5-3.