"So long, farewell...."

Yep, that's right. I'm off. I've got two match summaries to write for the Gazette and they need them soon. And it's 9:30pm and I haven't eaten yet, so there's a pizza going in the oven soon, too. If you want more analysis or highlights SSN is a free network and you can get highlights at www.ssncanada.ca.

It's been a pleasure going through this, I hope anyone who's been reading this has had fun. We'll try and do this again sometime, I've enjoyed it.

Until then, see you later,
Dylan

Full-time

Decent game, not phenomenal, but good enough. The men's basketball team is already mobbing Funk, waving a pylon around for some reason, as if saluting Funk. There is no one left in the stands, I think. They're all on the pitch. There may not be a double for them, but they'll take this. The women are a young team and will be dominant for a long time.

90+2min

A shot goes wide. Funk will hammer it away. And there it is! TWU win!

90+1min

Really terrible mistake by Dilling, but she's able to clear it off Fidler and it's a goal kick.

90min

Funk snags a ball off a long free kick. That was dangerous for a moment.

89min

Nothing much happening now. Looks like Brock are done, and the underdog story will end here.

86min

Wright misses another Mobilio cross; TWU could have put that one away easily. Brock are pressing, now.

84min

Wright gets free in the box and has a pop. It's well blocked at point blank range. Rachael Hood is in for Bettger.

82min

Corner to TWU. Ferguson is taking it. It goes straight through the area, but as soon as Mobilio gets a look at goal the ref whistles for a foul.

80min

Mobilio sprints in again but can't seem to really trouble Scriver. TWU are looking a little too confortable, maybe.

76min

Wright has had few real good chances lately. She's blazed a couple straight at Scriver and now she rolls one at her, which Scriver has some trouble with. The crowd roar, but she was never dropping that.

73min

You know what? This ref has been pretty biased to TWU tonight. Nothing really scandalous--no bookings, no Montreal v. Laval tactics--but Brockhave had the short end of the stick when it comes to fifty-fifty challenges. They keep getting whistled on their attacks for nothing.

70min

Wright goes down clutching her face. It didn't look like she got caught in the face. Mobilio has another good run, but her shot is saved relatively easily.

66min

Gartley is back for Brock, with White's short night ending.

65min

Van Bakel beats Dilling on the left--a terrific run--and Dillign shoves it out behind. Goal kick is given, which casts a little doubt on this ref, who's given some rather iffy decisions to TWU. There is the crowd to think of, they are noisy and they do affect referees.

62min

Terrific run on the left from Mobilio. Gerig gets it but can't control. Brock are making a change here, with Haig being replaced by Tirone.

61min

Free kick from 35 yards is sent just past Gerig and out. Brock are on the back foot a bit here.

56min

Wright has come very close there. Mobilio sends a cross in, which Scriver mishandles, but it's out for a corner. Ferguson takes it, so Mobilio has replaced Meyer, since she's out wide. That's another poor corner from Ferguson, it's behind again.

55min

Mobilio, who came off for Henry (I had said Meyer), now replaces Ferguson, I think.

54min

Brock have withdrawn Gartley for Stephanie White, who enters her final game and first at this tournament.

50min

Brock have a penalty shout turned down. They're upset, but it was never a penalty. No a free kick for Brock is cleared. Corner now. Funk does very well to claim Van Bakel's dangerous corner.

48min

The Trinity men's basketball team--they of the boxers--are now dressed in togas and are camped out behind Scriver, attempting to annoy her. Brock are not very happy about this, but so far they're not being listened to. And it was Dilling who's been credited with the goal. Henry is back on, I think for Meyer.

45min

Righto, we're back. The goal's been changed, by the way. I didn't hear who's been credited with it. Haig is in for Tirone. An early corner to Brock yields a good chance, which is saved well by Funk.

Half-time

The ref blows up for half-time, this is a MUCH better game than the men's gold medal game, though it's got nothing on the fireworks of the men's bronze medal. Yet. I'll be back for the second.

44min

The goal's been given to Ferguson, which means that Scriver has palmed that one into her own net, I think. The crowd are happy now, although they're on the opposite side, though; I don't think they saw very quickly through the scrum of players. And Mobilio has just blazed over the bar again. If they can keep the shots down, they'll go a couple of goals up.

42min

GOAL! Ferguson slices it in along the byline. You know, I think that's Ferguson's goal. May have been bumped in by Wright or the keeper at the near post. At any rate, it's 1-0.

41min

Corner to TWU.

40min

Great posession this time from Trinity. Dietrich gets it into the final thrid before cueing up Mobilio who JUST misses over the bar.

39min

Ferguson is back in here for Henry, who I think has pulled something. The crowd are very into this game, they're cheering every time TWU get the ball. Hopefully they'll get a goal to get excited about, they're very vocal.

37min

Meyer is actually having a worse game than she did on Saturday. She's gotten into all sorts of space before crossing it straight out of play over the byline. Yikes.

34min

Good save from Funk. Brock have been strong on the attack here, and they get the ball from the wing into the box. Funk pushes the first one away, then snags a second low shot.

31min

McKinnon I think gets the ball on the edge of the area and fires it off Dietrich's arm. That was a handball, and she was in the area, too, although the ref didn't spot it.

30min

TWU sub, Tessa Meyer, who had a rough semi-final, replaces Ferguson, I think.

25min

Corner to Brock. Van Bakel will take it. The ball comes down dangerously, but it's won by TWU and hacked clear.

24min

Wright gets one against one, which is where her pace makes her very, very dangeorus. She drives her shot over the bar, though. Tirone in for Haig.

21min

Wright miscontrols a ball and it comes back to Henry, who loops one over the bar. That wasn't all that far off for Henry. Brock want to be a little quicker getting to those loose balls.

17min

Free kick wide right. That's another awful cross from Ferguson. It's behind the goal and overhit. Ferguson has looked lively when she's got the ball at her feet, but she hasn't doen much with it. And D'Aguanno is off for Brock, with Deanna Fidler coming in.

14min

Ferguson wins a corner for TWU. That's a waste, it's deflected away easily by the first defender.

13min

Brock have very much been the underdog in this tournament, but they've knocked off CBU and Montreal, two very large teams. They'll be facing the crowd tonight, but they've started very positively, keeping right with TWU and holding them defensively. That's very much the Badger's way, they don't have a lot of talent up front and are playing a slightly revolutionary 3-6-1, but they have only conceded one goal in this tournament.

11min

Very vibrant, very loud crowd here, Trinity are the hosts.

9min

Wright half-volleys one wide on the left. No threat to Scriver there. If the semis are anything to go by, we'll need a very good strike to beat her.

7min

Right, that's that out of the way. A couple of early chances both ways, nothing overly substantial.

Teams

We are off, here are your teams:

Brock Badgers: Scriver, Kalata, Vanderkruk, Dimartino, Geier, Bettger, Gartley, Haig, Von Bakel, George, D'Aguanno.

Trinity Western Spartans: Funk, Wigston, Dilling, McKinnon, Dietrich, Mobilio, Dumerton, Henry, Ferguson, Wright, Gerig.

This is it--our last game

It's been a blast of a trip through this tournament, folks. So let's make this a ride not to forget. Email me! matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca.

Teams are coming.

York 1-0 Trinity Wstern

So now double for TWU. They're women are taking on Brock at 7:30, you can come on out and follow that here. It should be an interesting contest. I'll be back a bit later to cover that; I should have a preamble up around 7:20.

See you later,
Dylan

Full-time

The referee blows and York win it 1-0. Congrats to them, but this has been the most drab, dire, unentertaining, and lifeless performance of the tournament. Easily. But they've won. I feel a little bad for TWU, they've actually been the better team today.

90+min

Corner to TWU, Kowan comes up. Cleared behind for a goal kick. That's it.

89min

Nagarro gets in, but he plays it way too far ahead of himself and makes it very easy for Kowan. And what a chance for TWU as they come back up the field. A ball into the area is headed JUST over.

88min

It's a perfect time to score for York--leaving it too late for TWU to answer back, really. It isn't over yet, but, well, it is.

87min

It might be too late now, but Square-Briggs is comign off for Brandon McLean is on.

83min

They need to turn the floodlights on at Raven's Field. I can't see anymore. I couldn't see the goal very well, it's getting dark in Ottawa. Why they don't turn them on is beyond me.

82min

GOAL! Pena finds Bruno, who chips it to Nagarro. Nagarro drives one into the top corner behind Kowan. The keeper had no chance there, and TWU will have to open up a lot here.

80min

Nagarro looks for Pena in the six yard box, but it's just cut out by the defender.

79min

Goran Vitic is off for Lowen. That's an uncharacteristically offensive switch for TWU; they've got two striekrs and an attacking midfielder on now.

76min

Sereti wins a corner for York. Will they use it? Cleared off the line! It's a weird corner, sent to the top of the box to Smith, then to the left and the shot is looped over Kowan. It seems to hit the defender at the back post and bounce away.

73min

Nagarro wins a free kick in the corner. It's played up by the guys on SSN, only to be easily cleared by the first defender.

72min

Kekec loops over from well out. And now York are finally making a change, with Nagarro replacing Antonini.

68min

Proper chance! Kekec gets space and Karim is forced to lunge and tip over. The corner is sent over at the back post. This is actually rather shabby at the back from York. They're not really ever marking up very well. There's a lot of space to be had for TWU in the box and they might just use it. Maybe.

67min

Mustafa is coming out here for Square-Briggs. Is this the move that energizes TWU? I doubt it.

64min

Rowse slides a pass to a wide open Kekec who would be in alone except that Ladiyou picks the pass off. Nice for Ladiyou, that: he was the man who made that disastrous turnover a few minutes ago.

61min

Something of a half-chance, there. York turn it over in the final third and I think Rowse (who's on for Lowen) breaks in. Karim strips hm very well, though, and grabs it. And at the other end, Antonini has shanked another shot wide.

58min

No one has even come close to scoring tonight. It's a letdown, given one would expect the gold medal game to be--if not open--at least exciting, if solely for the occaision. It hasn't been.

56min

This isn't any better than the first half. TWU are holed up in their own end and York can't break them down. This is all very boring.

51min

Mustafa finally gets a decent chance, but he rolls it inches wide. He had some space there--finally, a legitimate scoring chance. But nothing comes of it. Oh well.

50min

Sereti sends a cross behind the net. That should be good for the highlight reel if this pace keeps up.

47min

Forno is off for Pena on the York side. That was at the half, by the way.

46min

Corner to TWU, bounces around dangerously and McCallister has a 30 yard shot that is miles wide.

45min

Right, we've got some changes. Jordan Hart is in for TWU, Traversy is off. And this second half had better be better.

Half-time

Well, that was a complete snore. But there was a little bit of controversy at the whistle, when Forna bumped TWU keeper Kowan causing him to lose the ball. There was no foul called, and we'll break for a few minutes.

43min

TWU waste a free kick in non-spectacular fashion.

41min

I'm fallign asleep here, I'm serious. York corner is headed wide.

36min

TWU get a good shot of a lost ball from about 25 yards. It's wide, and I can't tell you any more because my video had crashed at that point.

32min

Bruno gets a chance about 21 yards out, which he sends not that far over. That was very scorable, too.

30min

This is an amazingly slow game. Absolutely nothing is happening. It's disappointing in such a big game as this.

25min

Kekec pulls a brilliant step-over for TWU and shoulder fakes around his man. Smith disposesses him, though.

23min

Antonini comes in on a good break but his shot is amazingly wide. It's nowhere near goal. He's quick, but he's got to do better than that near goal.

20min

Mustafa sees yellow for a chop on Sereti out on the right. The cross in isn't overly wonderful and is easily cleared.

18min

Antonini finds Forna, who is fouled. Bruno gets his foot beneath it and sends it up, up and away. That was a decent chance, Bruno--who was very quiet against Montreal, and is also the CIS player of the year--and he should have done better.

14min

Decent York corner headed away by the defender. That was quite close, although there were Lions in attendance to put it in.

13min

This is a very tight, tentative opening. Both sides are feeling each other out a bit. York maybe have the edge, but that's probably what TWU want--they sat back against Laval yesterday before sneaking in to win it.

10min

Smith fouls TWU's Lowen. Free kick to TWU. The Turk Mustafa sends his shot way over. Way, way over.

9min

If only someone would do something.... Emails, if you please, to matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca.

5min

Not much happening yet, by the way.

Hey folks, we're just underway

Gold medal game is just underway, York v. Trinity Western. This should be good, though not maybe as good as that wild bronze medal game.

Bronze to Montreal

Montreal have won, but this is even more controversial than the goal York scored against them. Three red cards. One coach sent off. A winning goal that absolutely should have been stopped. Gordon the play-by-play guy is of the opinion that it should stand, but the injury occured on the corner when Argento went straight through the forward. Frankly, it could have been a penalty, and it was obviously a head injury. Everyone on Laval stopped playing.

Unbelievable game. I can't even summarize this, really. I'm tyring. By the way, Samir Grid is screaming in the referee's face now, surrounded by the red-shirted CIS officials, waiting for him to eventually have to be escorted off. This is somethign of a black day for officiating not onyl in CIS but in Canada--heck, even North America. It's no secret that the refereeing in MLS is terrible. This only proves that the refereeing isn't just confined to MLS. This is probably Canada's premiere soccer tournament, perhaps behind only the newly formed Canadian Championship that sees its winner (this year, the Montreal Impact) get into the CONCACAF Champions League. This is a game that should be well officiated. If CIS' own officials can;t get it done, then it's time to hire someone like Kevin Stott, who works in MLS and is, in my opinion, one of the best referees in the league, to do the game.

Anyway, ebough from me. Mark Masters has just gone to do some searching out with the officiating crew. The gold medal game is coming up in 15 minutes, although kick-off may be delayed to give them more warm-up time after this game here went late. Coaches have finally cleared off, so the warm-up can properly get underway. I'll be right back after I go search out a bathroom.

Dylan

Full-time, extra-time

Seba breaks in again alone, but he's too tired to get to it.The games over. And here comes the bench-clearing brawl! The coaches are at it now. Laval are turnign this into a mass brawl, Samir Grid is at the centre of it after Argento came over to shake hands. Laval are not doing that. I think CIS officials are intervening and they're cautiously shaking hands now. This has been a superb--and awful--game at the same time. Distastefully, the officials are LAUGHING as they come off. I have seen a fair bit of soccer and I have never seen a stranger game than this--even some of the Mexican League games that routinely end 8 v. 8. I haven't seen such antics even in a hockey game. It's been a blast of a ride.

120+min

That's essenitally it. What a game! I still can't quite believe this is not goign to penalties. It looked certain.

119min

GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 A Laval corner goes all wrong as their player sustains a HEAD injury. Seba breaks, Cournoyer runs way out to try and take him down, misses, and Seba nearly falls downs before catching himself and rolling it OFF THE POST and in. Montreal are celebrating and Laval are furious, the ref hsould have stopped for the head injury--he is supposed to. Lefevre and Nechad have charged back ont he pitch to celebrate. What a riot!

116min

Seba breaks in alone, loses his chance, and Tremblay takes him down. That's ANOTHER red, although a certain one. That's a tough one for Tremblay. Penalty coming.

Coutrier's taken it and been saved by Cournoyer! It's not the best penalty in the world, and Cournoyer slides to his left to save. There's a second chance and Coutrier can't finish that either!

117min

Decent cross by Moreau as Laval finally find their way forward against 9-men Montreal. Gutierrez hits it, but skies it off wide.

112min

Free kick to Laval. Aoun is comign off for Seba. A Ramondo seat update--he's sitting BETWEEN the stands and the bench. That is very odd, and he shouldn't be allowed to do that. That free kcik was awful, by the way--straight at the defense.

108min

Aoun wrangles a shot somehow. Laval aren't really threatening here-- a problem they've had all night. Where are those great long passes we saw against TWU?

106min

Bonenfant and Marcotte have returned for Montreal. Those are both defensive subs, naturally. Laval have brought off Patinniez for Heppel.

Half-time, extra-time

No stoppage here, despite another red card and an injury. And for once, Montreal are happy about something.

105min

Houssam will enter this game as a striker, a defender is coming off. This gets better and better, too. Lefevre has now been ESCORTED back to the stands after coming down to get his jacket.

103min

Aoun is axed by the Laval defender. That's a bad, bad tackle. Gordon is of the opinion that the defender got the ball--an opinion which I do not share. That's the only foul I feel could have been worth a red card tonight.

102min

Georget is fouled by Coutrier about 19 yards out. Georget hits it into a jumping wall.

100min

Aoun--who broke his wrist against Dal--sneaks in and lines straight at Cournoyer.

97min

SSN--who are at the game--are mentioning that Ramondo has been speakign to the director of officiating int he stands. He's actually very near the bench--which I can definitely tell you is against the rule. The ref wanted him not only to sit in the stands but to actually leave the stadium. This gets weireder and weirder.

95min

Corner coming here. The assistant coach Sergio Grande for Montreal is also quite vocal--he's now in charge after Ramondo was sent off. And he's justifiably upset. But he needs to be careful or the trainer will end up running this match. The corner's wasted and De Foresta is back.

94min

De Foresta is down, he's holding his face and Priol is standing over him lookign rather guilty. Nothing doing from the ref.

92min

Here we go again.... Lefevre is gone for a second yellow. That's a bad tackle--it was a yellow. Except is first one was for breathing, remember back then. This is simpyl ridiculous. And Ramondo is back, presumably to shout and yell about this one, too.

91min

We're on. Montreal will play 30 more minutes with 10 men. Can they survive this?

Full-time

And as my video comes back from its latest crash we hit full-time. Extra time coming.

This refereeing is utterly mad. Players have been booked for nothing tonight. And these cards carry over to next year. I didn't get a great look at the Nechad foul, but Gordon on SSN is of the opinion that Georget was writhing a bit too much. Maybe the ref felt, after all the yellows, that he was losing control. So he's sent Nechad off. In all fairness, Ramondo needs to zipper up here and keep his mouth shut after that card. He certainly was within his rights to disagree, but he can't be screaming at the ref. I think he started as soon as Nechad was sent off and the referee waited about 2 minutes before getting fed up with Ramondo. It wasn't a great decision, but it's the ref's call.

90+2min

SSN are counting 9 cards tonight. And Gordon is right--it's not been a rough game. But there are 30 minutes left with oodles of players on yellows. I think we'll be lucky to finish 11-10 with this ref.

90+1min

Laval corner. Straight to Argento.

90min

That all took about 5 minutes. They'll be stoppage, stay tuned. This is ridiculous. Something like 6 yellows and 2 reds (the coach was sent off, it's not exactly a red card, but hey).

85min

And Tremblay hits a corerner to Georget who gets a couple whacks at it. Suter clears off the line twice, possibly with a hand--at least Laval are saying so. And wait, the Frenchman Nechad is off! He's come in a bit late on Georget, and the ref has clearly overreacted and sent him straight off. Nechad hasn't done anything tonight. And the ref has just sent Ramondo off, too. This is now 3 reds in 3 games, plus their coach. Nechad hasn't actually left yet. Ramondo is going off in the manner of a baseball manager, screaming and yelling at the ref. Nechad is FINALLY off, but is laughing and joking with everyoen about this. This is hilarious. Absolutely unbelievable. This ref is nuts. Montreal is applauding sarcastically. This is brutally hilarious. The eventual free kick is wasted.

84min

Brouk needs only about 30 seconds to go offside. Not even a run, he's just standing offside.

83min

Would you look at that. Seba is withdrawn for who? Brouk! Presumably the coach has had a good yell at him by now and he's ready to work properly.

82min

Seba gets a break and has two shots saved point blank by Cournoyer. The whistle comes a bit late, though--it's ANOTHER offside.

80min

Hanna does terrificly well to win a corner. Suter gets it and loops a 35-yard shot over the goal.

78min

Corner to Montreal. Suter overhits it. He way overhits it. Nothing doing.

75min

The ineffective Brouk has just been removed. Aoun is being given a run out now, this is his last game. And immediately Seba breaks in and Cournoyer beats the ball away from JUST inside the box. And now Priol has had a great shot/cross palmed clear by Argento. Two brilliant saves, there.

72min

Aaboubou concedes a free kick near goal. Patinniez is on, Miller is off. Bragagnolo is also off, though SSN haven't said whose in. The free kick comes to nothing.

71min

Brouk is caught offside for the third time in ten minutes by the high Laval back line. He's got the speed, but he isn't watching the defenders.

68min

Brouk just can't buy a goal, can he? Seba breaks in and is stripped by Cournoyer. It bounces loose to Brouk, about 5 yards out, and Brouk has THE WHOLE net. And he shoots 10 feet over. Nasty, nasty shot. And Bragagnolo has been booked for something or other. Might be for breathing, that one. This ref seems to have a problem with that.

65min

Brouk gets in, but he's ruled offside. It's close, and it didn't look off to me. Brouk isn't happy about it, he had Seba with him who I think was on, but Brouk took it, so he's got nothing to be upset about.

60min

Seba gets a break for Montreal, but the ball is bouncing on him and he gets his foot under his shot and slices it off at Cournoyer.

59min

Ramondo--the Montreal coach--has decided he started the wrong team today. He's now brought off the captain Bonenfant for Roberge.

58min

De Foresta and Blaise are the other two subs from half-time. All for Montreal, which is odd.

56min

Lefevre gets booked now, which is purely ridiculous. A slight tug maybe, but that's a free kick--nothing more. Should not have been a card.

55min

Tremblay gets cautioned for dissent. The ref's really upset about this, too.

52min

The long, swooping diagonal balls that nearly had Laval beat Trinity Western yesterday are gone for this game. Which is probably why Laval are accomplishing nothing.

50min

Brouk is also on for Montreal. He gets a free kick about 25 yards out and tests Counrnoyer, although it was never going in. Suter's just been booked, I think it may have been for dissent.

49min

Aaboubou just misses on a loose header, but there's a foul here.

48min

Kourouma, Demarcy are also off. Corner to Montreal.

47min

We're back. I was just looking through the highlights of Dal's 4-0 defeat to the Victoria women. I realise I was bit hard on Armstrong, probably. I still think she's missed a few easy ones and not dealt with some of the others very well.

We've had some subs in this game at half-time. Tremblay is still on, despite an injury. I wish I could tell you who's on and off, but I can;t see the numbers well enough. Seba is on for Montreal.

Half-time

It's 1-1 at the whistle. Decent game so far, this game. Both back lines are sitting really high up around the centre line, which is creating plenty of mistakes and pressure. We should see a few more goals if this keeps up.

45+min

Georget flys into a Montreal players and his studs make contact aroudn the knee. It's a ridiculous challenge, for which a yellow card is shown.

44min

Gutierrez finds Miller, who sends Moreau in down the left side of the box. His cross is more of a shot, and Argento struggles to hold it without falling over the line.

42min

Lefevre makes a terrific tackle to steal the ball out on the right. He's got three players across but rolls his pass miles in front of Hanna and Cournoyer claims. And my video crashes.

41min

Nothing is happening, except that my video has been working for 30 minutes now. I usually can't coax much more than 35 minutes out of it, so bear with me--it will almost certainly go down before half-time.

34min

Goal! Laval have scored. Gutierrez I think puts it in, and Priol has an absolute sitter at the back post. Argento ROBS him, then dives the other way to save another before I think David Miller came in late to put it home.

32min

Gutierrez is fine, but Tremblay isn't. He's still favouring his leg, which he's wrapped up, I think.

29min

Tremblay is back, but now Gutierrez is down. He's getting some treatment now, it's taking awhile. He's gone off for some more attention now.

27min

What a try! No idea who had a go for Montreal, and drive from what must have been about 40 yards out. I think it was their left winger who tried it. It completely eludes Cournoyer and hammers off the bar. Hanna manages to get it, but can't control it. Amazing strike--there was nothing to chance there, a perfect strike.

25min

Coutrier bumps in to Poudre in a rather cacophonous collision, for which he is booked. And Tremblay has just ambled off for Laval--no idea why--though he may be hurt. And as I msi-type my way through that both Gutierrez and Lefevre trade chances, which they both miss horribly.

23min

Laval can't get a blaa back in their final third and Kourouma ends up free in on Cournoyer. The keeper does very well to strip Kourouma and close him down quickly. Laval are completely redefining suicide defending here.

20min

Lefevre catches the Laval left back out of position and drives a low one at Cournoyer, which the keeper holds well. And now Cournoyer gets a terrible back pass and is forced to hack clear as Kourouma pressures in looking for a second.

18min

Goal! Montreal's Kourouma breaks his way past the defenders, and slides it past a sliding Cournoyer. It rolls--temptingly slowly--into the goal. 1-0 Montreal.

Yeah, yeah, there were some time issues there; I was about 6 minutes behind.

10min

Lefevre is back for Montreal after getting sent off against Dal. But they'll miss Eustache, after he took two yellows yesterday.

9min

Free kick from Laval's Tremblay, but it's straight to Argento in the Montreal goal.

7min

Anyway, we're off. York and TWU are later for the men, you can check the schedule in the sidebar. That's the gold medal. We won't have the women's bronze medal game, we will have their gold medal game at 7:30. Men's gold is at 5pm. If you want to email me, send your message to matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca.

Hey Folks

Sorry I'm late, bronze medal game between Montreal and Laval is underway. I'm late because I just came from a real doozy of a church meeting, went way over time. Nothing's happening yet, about 6min in.

Win!

The fans swarm the pitch. Funk missed her penalty, but ended up ulling TWU out of the fire. And how Sheyla Behrens missed that is beyond me. That's penalties, I guess. What an end to a terrible game.

Well, I have to go, so I'll see you later. We'll be back for both gold medal games and one of the bronze medal games. So come on out tomorrow, and good night!

Dylan

Penalties

This will be updated as we go, keep pressing refresh. Technical reasons for this, by the way.

Who gets to play Brock? We'll find out.

Goalkeepers are Kristen Funk (TWU) and Stephanie Parker (Victoria)

TWU: Mobilio will shoot. Scores. Top shelf in the corner. Nice shot. 1-0

Vic: Hunter slides it low corner. Beautiful finish. Very calm., 1-1

TWU: Foster for TWU. Drives to the right. 2-1

Victoria: Smith for the Vikes. Post! Smith beats Funk, and her great shot is off the post. Hold on, the linesman's called it back. Funk moved early. Another shot for Smith! Post and in, other side. Great calmness. 2-2

TWU: Funk for TWU. Ten feet over from Funk. Yikes.

Vic: Sarah Cameron freezes Funk. 2-3

TWU: Gerig keeps it alive, wrong-waying Parker. 3-3

Vic: Quinlan catches Funk going the wrong way. 4-3

TWU: They have to score. Dilling floats it just past Parker's arm. 4-4

Vic: They can win it here. Hood. Saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a stop! Huge! 4-4

TWU: MAcKinnon slots into the corner. Vic have to score.

vic: Flock's up. Scores, top corner. Nice. 5-5

TWU: Filion is up. Caught and held by Parke.r Pooer shot, really. 5-5

Vic: For the win. MArgetts nails the bar! 5-5 Funk might have tipped it. No result!'

TWU: Rachel Ferguson. Scores into the side. 6-5

Vic: Miss! TWU win! Whata floater from Behrens, the defender. She';s missed by yards, literally, yards! Yards right and yards high. Terrible shot. Trinity Western win!

Full-time, extra-time

0-0 folks. Here we go. Stay tuned and bear with me.

120+min

When we do go to penalties, I'll try and get them up for you as they happen, but I may have to do it all at once. We'll see. Hopefully this'll work.

120min

Last ditch change for TWU, which he only just gets done in time. Foster in for Dumerton, and Filion in for Wigston. More penalty moves.

119min

Gerig gets a half-chance, but she never had the pace to beat Kurylo.

118min

Hood replaces Quinlan for Victoria, a switch purely for penalties--Hood being a striker, and Quinlan a midfielder.

116min

Mobilio's back, presumably recovered. Meyer is out.

114min

Margetts gets around Meyer, but she's run out of play to do it. Ah, scoreless soccer. Now Wright has a nice cross picked off by Parker. Good save there from Parker. It's funny, these scoreless games. Sometimes, they're absolutely enthralling. Then, there's times like this.

113min

Mobilio is off, Ferguson is coming back on.

112min

Mobilio is down now, in need of assistance.

110min

Parker collapses to her left to snag a Gerig shot. Now Mobilio tests Parker from distance, to no avail.

109min

Hunter replaces Clark for Victoria. Probably a penalty-oriented sub, there. Corner to TWU. Mobilio will take it. Cleared relatively easily by Victoria.

107min

Meyer is still in, too; or back in. Gerig gets a chance, but rolls wide. She should have scored there, and probably would have if this was the first half.

Half-time, extra-time

Tired, tired, tired. I'm talking about myself, not the players. My technique is getting sloppy. So is everyone's on the pitch. There's a sub, too. Mobilio is coming in for Ferguson, which is a good move, since Ferguson can barley move.

104min

Ferguson can barely move her legs. This may partly be a nagging injury, she was subbed off earlier. But she's also obviously tired. I don't see a goal coming here.

103min

Wright is down. She's in considerable distress, too. Fortunately, she seems able to continue, which is very, very good news for TWU.

102min

Wow. Flock has a go from 30 yards, it loops over everyone, including Funk, and pings off the top of the bar before Funk can grab it.

98min

Free kick to Victoria, very, very dangerous position. The shot takes a deflection and beats Funk, but also beats the goal. May not have deflected, given it's a goal kick. Bit of a waste, that.

96min

And Gerig should have scored. GReat passing from TWU to counter very quickly. Wright--who got her pass in an offside position--rolls across a sprawling Parker to Gerig, but her sliding effort doesn't make contact. Parker claims the ensuing corner after a time.

93min

Sparta's army have just charged up the far touchline in full battle gear, looking a whole lot more purposeful than anybody on the field right now. I think a little Spartan discipline could do some serious good here.

We're back

That second half was brutal, so someone had better do soethign impressive in the extra-time. These two teams could make a penalty shoot-out boring.

Full-time

We're off to see the...next thirty minutes, I guess. I'm missing the Habs and Leafs here, this has better be good. Actually, I'm going to watch that online now. I'll be back when the soccer starts again.

90+min

Free kick down low for Victoria. Everyone--including Victoria--need to be careful. First defender, but it's not really very well cleared. Quinlan has a spectacularly floaty shot, which Funk ambles over to catch with all the interest of a Major League Baseball outfielder catching a fly ball.

90min

Wright was in, but she mishandled it. Wow, what a night for Wright. She simply can't do anything right. It's just one of those nights for the rookie of the year. Learning experience, I guess.

89min

Corner to Trinity. Plenty of scramble off a punch by Parker. Amazingly, no one's socred. Even more amazingly, no one's conceded a cheap penalty. It's started to POUR rain, too.

88min

Wright is halted again and she stops running, lookign skywards, very frustrated. She's had a rough game.

85min

Gerig beats the right back in the corner and finds Wright in the box. Wright turns quick but her shot is charged down by Fiddick. Extremely good block, that might have troubled Parker. If you're wondering about that time, my last post took a little while.

78min

Margetts replaces Bach for Victoria as they get a corner. Cameron wildly overhits the corner. Behrens gets a follow-up, but Funk claims. And yes! Kendra Flock has finally found her contact lense! Probably the biggest story tonight, too. Parker has just stripped Wright as I type, too.

77min

Dumerton has FINALLY been booked. I don't think she's had a tackle that wasn't late tonight, including this one.

76min

Here comes a Victoria sub. Quinlan is in for Hood. Let's see if this creates anything.

74min

Ball into the box finds Wright, who flubs it. Victoria are back the other way, and Wigston has come very, veyr close to conceding a penalty, but it's just outside the area. And Flock has lost a contact lense, I think. Decen topportunity here, on the free kick. It's sent in well, but there's a foul.

70min

Flock gets tied up with Henry, who's in for TWU at some point. This is becomign a very nasty game.

65min

TWU are beginning to show their youth a bit. And maybe soem fatigue, too.

67min

You know how I said this wouldn't be 0-0. Well, I take that back. This is going nowhere.

63min

Wright finally gets a decent chance, and rolls it at Parker. Mobilio is back in again, by the way, I think Meyer is out.

62min

Dilling launches herself in again for a late challenge--and somehow escapes a card. Free kick in a dangerous area. Ferguson goes for goal, and Funk catches it easily.

59min

Corner to Victoria. Hood will take it after Flock outwaits Dietrich. The ball isn't terribly convincingly cleared, and it's thumped back by Bach. Funk claims it easily on her chest and holds it.

55min

Meyer is having a shocker. Her touch is poor, her runs late or non-existent, and her distribution poor. She's just let a ball get away from her and roll out, when she should have controlled easily.

54min

This game is getting quite nasty, as Dumerton takes a lump out of Behrens, I think.

51min

Behrens is booked for a tug, I think. I couldn't really see it very well, it may have been out of camera. Parker claims the ball easily enough on the free kick. Apparenlty, someone on the Spartans picked up a yellow earlier, I have no idea who got it or for what.

49min

Gerig treis a shot and it's deflected away well by Snell. Corner here. Ferguson sends it past everyone, and the follow-up isn't very good.

48min

Dumerton hipchecks Cameron with a feisty challenge. No card, despite a late tackle.

46min

Welcome back. Mobilio is gone for Ferguson, which is good for TWU, you could really see the need for her pace and talent.

Also, SSN are informing us that Marli Philp can't continue. She could have been subbed back on, but she did pick up an injury fairly early on.

Half-time

Well, it's still 0-0. The whistle goes and we'll be back for the second. Decent even game so far; the Vikes have been a bit better, though. There should be a goal sooner or later, though. I don't think this'll end 0-0.

44min

Cynical foul by Meyer, who was running against Snell. Snell beats her and Meyer hacks her down. No attempt at the ball at all, Snell goes down hard. Colin and I both agree--should have been at least a yellow card.

In case I didn't mention earlier, Kelsey and Colin are the play-by-play guys at SSN Canada, the webcast providers.

30min

Nope. I was wrong, Meyer has actually replaced Ferguson, which is a surprise. Ferguson's been good, and was great on Thursday, which leads me to suspect she's hurt. That sub will really hurt TWU's game, Ferguson has been one of the few players able to run with the ball for TWU and generate chances.

39min

Meyer is in for TWU, I think Anderson is probably out, though I'll have to check that.

38min

Behrens collides with Dumerton rather heavily, getting spilled acrobatically. She's a little bruised up, too.

37min

Free kick from Cameron is bustled wide. Not a bad chance, but it was never going in.

31min

Victoria free kick out on the right. A foul is comitted on the play and TWU get the ball back.

27min

Victoria have the lion's share of posession and have controlled the game so far. TWU look dangerous on the rush with their pacey strikers, but I like Victoria through 30 minutes.

25min

Cameron sends one in for the Victoria strikers after a nice, nice run of passing around the final third. Hood lets it go for Flock, whose shot is woefully wide.

22min

While I was reloading everyting back up again, Ferguson wafted a free kick in. I don't get the feelign from Kelsey and Colin that it was terribly dangerous. Corner to Victoria now. McKinnon gets well up to head clear. And Colin has informed us that, off camera, Dilling has kicked out "Jackie Chan" style at a Vike player. Which leaves way too much to the imagination, doesn't it? She's likely lucky to be on the pitch, though. Dilling is out of the final if she picks up even a yellow--she was booked for a nasty hack Thursday, too.

20min

Smith, breaking up the park with several other players, decides her best course is to roll it straight to Funk, which she does, for no apparent reason. And my video crashes.

19min

Philp is up gingerly holding her gut. I'm not sure what's wrong, or how serious it is. She is coming out. Jackie Snell will replace Philp here.

18min

Parker flings herself into another ball that Gerig was running onto, getting a faceful of boot in the process. Nice work today from Parker.

17min

Ferguson breaks down the right this time (it may not have been Ferguson last time, she tends to switch wings a lot) and sends the ball in for Gerig. It's slightly behind her, though, and she can't hit it cleanly.

15min

A long Ferguson pass sends Gerig in on Parker, but Parker charges outside the box and boots it away.

12min

Great run from Flock in on the left. She's tackled hard but stays on her feet. She can't get the pass past Wigston, though, he does well to block. TWU are on the back foot a bit here.

11min

Flock has a go from 30 yards, which is troubling no one. The guys in the boxers are back, by the way. Remember them? If not, go to Thursday's report and have a look.

9min

Can anyone else not wait for the final tomorrow?

7min

A reminder that emails about anything in particualr--soccer, hockey, philosophy, history, politics, anything you want--can be sent to matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca.

5min

Not too much to tell you about yet, some good runs, but not much really happening chance-wise.

Teams

TWU: Funk, Wigston, Dilling, McKinnon, Dietrich, Mobilio, Dumerton, Anderson, Ferguson, Wright, Gerig

Victoria: Parker, Philp, Fiddick, Behrens, Kurylo, Bach, Cameron, Clark, Smith, Flock, Hood.

There's a couple of early chances, but nothing doing, while I was doing the rosters.

Trinity Western v. Victoria Vikes

Hey folks, I'm back. Just give me a moment, I'm trying to eat something. I'll get your rosters soon. This should be a doozy of a game between two familiar, good teams.

Full-time

That's it. That's it. TWU are through, and I would call this an upset. Certainly going into this game, I think abyone would. But TWU have been the much better team today, especially in the second half. They took their time coming out. They frustrated Laval. They got their goal. They got their goal back. And they win. Great game, I'd recommend it to anyone.

I think the women's game is going to go. I'll be right back with a preview.

90+2min

Corner for Laval on a great run by Heppel. Here comes Cournoyer. No one's taken it. Laval get it back in and Gutierrez's shot is blocked in front on the mass scramble. And the ref blows and TWU are into the final.

90+1min

Nothing yet for Laval.

90min

Laval have a chance, but the midfielder--I think Georget--is mugged without a foul.

89min

That should have been red! Rowse breaks in on the right and Cournoyer slides to deflect it up. It's in the air when it strikes the defender's arm, very, very obviously. No whistle. That should have been a straight red card, no doubt at all.

88min

Can Laval punish Rowse for that horrible miss? They'll try, that's for sure.

87min

Oh my, Rowse, oh my! David Rowse gets the bal in a 3 on 1, ten yards out, and rolls four feet wide. That's a sitter, and absolute sitter. He just has to roll it in. Oh my.

86min

TWU sub:

Kekec is out for Square-Briggs. Gordon Smith mentions, quite rightly, that Kekec has had a great outing.

Laval get a chance, but the shot is hit wide from a very difficult position.

85min

And the word is in that Brock have doubled Montreal 2-0, and are going into the finals.

83min

This game has picked up considerably. Back and forth now, great tempo.

82min

There's a push after a free kick here. This could be bad, Priol's raised his hands. Could have been off, but he doesn't even get a yellow. Very lenient. Very, very lenient.

81min

Tremblay takes a goal kick and gets it about 20 yards, straight to Kekec, who has a go, which is wide. Not the best effort from Kekec.

78min

Hamilton sends a great diagonal ball down the right. Lowen is after it, before his chaser flops to the ground, leading to a free kick for what was a blatant dive. Then at the other end, Hamilton nearly cues up a Laval tap in, but his error is left unpunished.

There's a Laval sub, Pattieniez off for Heppel.

76min

A Laval throws generates a good turning chance, but it's fired over. Barrignola is off for Laval, Aoukli off, which leaves Laval with only three at the back.

73min

Good ball in, I think from Lowen. Beautiful sliding clearance by Boudreau-Daigle. Corner. How was that not in? What a chance! It's hard to the near post. Cournoyer flubs it again, and bats it down right into danger. And TWU are back in and I think Kekec is down near the box. No foul, though.

70min

Corner for Laval as Mustafa is withdrawn for Hart, I think. The corner is headed down into Kowan's arms.

67min

GOAL! Another free kick, this one for TWU. Great strike from 35 yards, had Cournoyer frozen, but it's deflected out by the wall. Corner. And Cournoyer flubs that! Absolutely awful keeping from Cournoyer. Hamilton gets up, but he's pretty unmarked. Cournoyer couldn't make up his mind on whether to come or not and just got caught. Great shot from Hamilton.

66min

Tremblay's got a free kick. Met well by the Laval man at the back post, but it's straight up in the air and behind now for a goal kick.

65min

Correction, it was Tremblay who scored for Laval; SSN have finally told me (I can't see the numbers on this feed). Tremblay's had a great game today, at least offensively.

63min

TWU look much improved here. They've come out of the shell and are actually testing Laval's defense a fair bit here.

60min

Kekec is doewn after that free kick on the booking. He needs attention, this doesn't look good. And we've just heard that Brock are/were leading Montreal 1-0 at half-time.

59min

I think it was Poudre who hit the Laval goal, but SSN haven't said. And now Isreal Jones has been booked for TWU.

55min

GOAL! Laval this time! Less than a minute later, too. The ball came in and was poorly cleared. Not sure who scored it yet, but it's 1-1. Beautiful strike, too. Driven to the corner faster than a Montreal Carabin trotting off the pitch after getting sent off. No chance at all for Kowan.

54min

GOAL! It's TWU! Against the run of play, too. Daniel Lowen runs across the top of the box and outwaits his defender before launching one over Cournoyer. Laval don't deserve that, but TWU have finally done it.

52min

TWU counter very well. Tremblay slips and it turns into a 2-on-1. Lowen is there, but the pass is STRAIGHT to the only defender.

51min

Corner to Laval is wasted.

50min

Laval free kick well out from Tremblay. The defender goes for goal and I think Gutierrez gets a toe on it. Kowan snaffles it well and holds it.

49min

Boy, TWU's right midfielder, I have no idea who he is--I don't have positions--can really launch his throws. He'll need somebody to claimthem, though, which doesn;t exist at the moment.

Brock v. Montreal....

The earlier women's game is running on tape delay. I'll keep an eye on it and try and figure out the score.

Also, to be fair, the Dal women lost 2-1 on Friday, but played much better. I haven't seen highlights yet, but I think they've redeemed themselves somewhat. They were never really likely to progress far in this tournament, but it's good to see them outshoot Laurier and get a goal.

We;re coming back now, so here we go.

Half-time

I'm back, just in time for half-time. Still 1-0.

In TWU v. Victoria women's news, I'm still not definitively sure. I've been checking the feed, they haven't labelled it moved yet, so we might get something. Stay tuned.

44min

And there goes my video again. I'll try and get it back. I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, here, though I wish I did so I could fix it.

43min

Laval free kick, not too far out. Great ball in gets bouncing around and Gutierrez hits it properly this time. But Kowan palms it over very well. Gutierrez is really very creative, although he'll be disappointed that he didn't put that out of Kowan's reach.

42min

Kekec, who has really salvaged a bad start, has a very nice turn at the Laval byline. His pass across the box isn't great and is hoofed away by Laval.

39min

Gutierrez tests Kowan again. I'll admit his shots aren't perfect, but he looks consistently dangerous.

37min

Kekec has a fantastic run through the midfield, but he wants to pass. Both his forward options are offside though, and he was forced to pass to one of them by the defenders.

36min

I've changed my mind. Gutierrez is brilliant. He distributes the ball, he can (sort of) shoot, and he's quick and creative. Better yet, he's only a rookie. This guy has promise.

33min

Gutierrez cuts inside and slides on into Kowan's arm. The Colombian Gutierrez looks dangerous here.

31min

Well, Laval look more like scoring, but I'm not sold on their defenders right now. There's a lot of space when TWU come forward. The wingers are running into space, and it wouldn't be impossible to see them break free.

30min

Wafting shot from Gutierrez--who my roster misidentifies as Priol--troubles Kowan, who concedes a corner. The ball in from the flag is booted just over the bar.

28min

Gabriel Moreau has been great in midfield so far for Laval, moving the ball around very well. Laval have the technical advantage, that's for sure.

26min

Rory Delap-esque throw from TWU, Cournoyer's had some trouble with that, but he's managed to hustle it out--and win a goal kick, suprisingly.

24min

TWU may be playing the long ball, but they're not bad at it. The wingers are getting up into the corners and getting on the end of diagonal balls. They haven't really had a chance yet, but those diagonal balls are hard to defend. We might just see a mistake or two from Laval.

22min

The ball come in to Priol again, who's in space--a great pass to get him there--but he's tripped. The ref's having none of it, though.

19min

Free kick off a handball to Laval. The ball is put back to Priol about 20 yards from goal, and he skews his shot around the post, with Kowan watching helplessly.

18min

TWU are using only Daniel Lowen up front, and they're already resorting to the long ball. It's looking a bit dire for Trinity.

15min

Weak shot from the right is claimed easily by Kowan.

13min

Corner to Trinity on a nice long ball to the corner. Here it comes.... TWU can't control the low drive and it's cleared by Laval.

11min

Kekec can't control Georget and the Laval man hammers on inches over the bar. Back the other way, Kekec continues a poor sequence by earning a somewhat odd card for stepping on a Laval player in midfield. Not sure what happened. Laval's Poudre went down, and the referee spent about 30 seconds lecturing Kekec.

7min

Laval can;t believe they haven't scored! Two fantastic saves from Andrew Kowan, charging down the first shot, then blockng a rebound effort. What a chance, and TWU are rocking early. Frankly, I'd be shocked if Laval manage to lose this.

5min

Well, I'm hoping SSN will give me some rosters, but I'm not holding out much hope. Oh well. Samuel Georget puts a cross behind the goal for Laval.

3min

Nothing doing yet. Email me your comments, questions, or random thoughts on anything to matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca.

We're off

And we're going. Teams coming soon.

We're back for Game #2

Hello again. I'm back in front of my computer for Trinity Western v. Laval, which probably won't be quite as skillful a game as York v. Montreal, but perhaps somewhat more passionately played--a bit like MLS in that regard: great drive, but a bit lower in the technique department.

See, Trinity are Canada West runners-up and according to "Gordon" the colour guy, didn't play overly well in their 1-0 win over Laurier. Laval, on the other hand, come in with a bit more excitement about them--they scored four unanswered goals to knock off host and favourite Carleton 4-1. That said, play-by-play guy Mark Masters writes in his blog on the subject that "the Canada West runners-up are not regarded as a favourite in the tournament and their 1-0 quarterfinal victory against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks was far from convincing."

So brace yourself for a chippy game here. Not that there won't be skill. It takes a certain level of skill to get to CIS nationals.

TWU don't exactly score buckets of goals, either. Daniel Lowen has 7 in 14 games, and a couple of other strikers have 4.

So, in other words, this is the perfect game to be following while eating supper.

Full-time

The ref blows his whistle and York are through to the final!

Well, any time you take two red cards in two games you don't deserve to get to the final. But York should be careful, they haven't played all that well offensively today. Bruno has been very, very quiet--despite my mention to watch out for him. It could be a great final, at 4:00pm tomorrow. We'll have that for you here.

And I thank any of you who may have read this for comign along today. I'll be back at 5:30 for the Trinity Western v. Laval.

See you,
Dylan

90+min

Free kick to Montreal. Up comes Argento! Karim's spilled it! But wait, Argento has fouled Karim. Free kick. That was close.

88min

RED CARD! Eustache has just picked up a second yellow for a cynical foul on Antonini. He definitely deserved that. And with that, Montreal are toast. They haven't got the numbers coming forward with 11 men, never mind 10.

86min

York sub: Nagarro on, Reid off, I think.

83min

Montreal are pressing here. They lack a finish, though.

81min

Corner to Montreal, good work in the corner there. It's cleared quickly, and Seretti is off. It's played to Pena--way too far in front of him--but Pena goes down. The ref cautions him, but the coulour guy is of the opinion Suter was the last man and should have been sent off. That's incorrect--the rule is not last man, it's A SCORING CHANCE, which Pena never had. Good call by the ref.

77min

Hanna blazes his way past two York defenders. His cross is good, but AGAIN, there's no one there for Montreal. And now Hanna's conceded a free kick.

74min

Good point by the colour guy: Lefevre isn't there to come on and support the strikers. He got sent off against Dal for retaliation; the sense I'm getting--having not actually seen it--is that he punched someone in the face, which is a great way to get an early shower. But he'd help here.

And Montreal are bringing off Seba, surprisingly, for Brouk.

71min

Aaboubou is a riot! He's just run into Hanna now, and York spring free only lose it. Antonini responds by hacking his man down near the box, which earns him a yellow. The free kick is wide right. Hanna, who scored against Dal, has his free kick claimed easily by Karim.

69min

York corner now the other way. It's partially punched clear by Argento, Rivers heads forward into an offside position. Scrambly there for a moment--not great defending from Montreal--but nothing comes of it. Now Seba sends a dangerous cross at the other end, which again, nobody is on the end of. And now Bonanfont gets a great header, which he misses.

68min

Montreal freekick, at the byline on the left. Rivers fouls the Montreal player. Montreal (I can't see who) goes for goal. There's plenty of action inside the box, but he goes for the shot. Which might not have been a bad idea: it skims past Karim and drops off the bar.

65min

I'm really sorry for these video problems. I did see this though: Bruno cuts inside and rolls one at Argento. Pena now has a go, which is wide.

And now Gabriel De Foresta is off for Woodler Elie Blaise. That's a Montreal sub, by the way.

63min

Oh dear, Aaboubou is at it again (I shall avoid any odourous puns here). He's run into his keeper, Argento, this time. York get the ball and nearly score, but somehow can't. Oh, Aaboubou!

60min

Nechad has a go from the centre circle and nearly beats Karim. I wish I could say I've seen it, but my video had crashed and my blog poster is also going down now, too, so I can't.

52min

Another yellow is waved around by the ref, this time in Kourouma general direction for doing...well...not a whole heck of a lot, really. He slid in to try and get a loose ball, got nowehere near man or ball, and gets booked.

50min

A brief update on the B.C. rain situation. SSN (the webcast provider) are telling me that the first game, Brock v. Montreal is definitely moved to a new, non-internet, location. No word ont he big game between Victoria and TWU.

And Eustache is booked for a foul on Antonini, which may have been enhanced slightly by Antonini.

48min

And Adrian Pena has replaced the ineffective and booked Luca Forna for York.

47min

Oh dear. Why CIS? Why schedule your women's nationals in B.C.? Do they not now it never stops raining in B.C.? The women's semis have just been moved again, so they're off for later. Stay tuned for a few more updates, we might yet get lucky.

46min

Hi. We're back. And already, both benches are going at the ref and Seba has a chance for Montreal, although he manages to shoot in the wrong direction.

45+min

York may be leading, but don't desrve to be. They've not really played very much in the last 25 minutes, Montreal have come close a few times. And the York goal was somewhat controversial, anyway.

And now it's half-time, York lead 1-0.

I'm off for a snack, I'll be back in 10.

43min

As I was typing your last one, Karim--who is York's only keeper, gets hammered by TWO Montreal players. Should probably have been a yellow, Karim wasn't exactly off his line when he was bodychecked.

40min

Seba heads a great ball to Suter who beats Francesca, but no one is there to knock home Suter's cross. Suter's been a real positive light here...if only someone could get on his crosses.

37min

We're back. I don't think there was a goal there.

33min

Suter sprays Aoun down the left, and his cross misses Brouk, all for Montreal. The ball bounces out into the right corner, where a free kick is wasted. Hold on, the ref's making them do it again. And there goes my video...I'll have this for you in a moment.

29min

York are superb coming forward, with Seretti, Antonini, and Bruno. They work well together--quick passing, piercing runs, all that good stuff that makes soccer worth watching.

28min

Montreal are sitting well back here, which is odd, given they're 1-0 down.

26min

Aaboubou mishandles at the back and Antonini steals in on goal. He's tackled heavily, but apparently legally. Aaboubou would do very well to avoid doing any more of that.

25min

Mark Masters and Gordon Smith are the play-by-play guys, whom I owe a debt of gratitude to for helping me out with the numbers.

And boo to Carleton, who have football lines on thier soccer field. You just don't see that at Wickwire at Dal, you just don't.

23min

Free-kick to Montreal here. Suter takes it and send sit straight to Karim. Ho-hum.

19min

Watch out for Francesco Bruno, the player of the year in CIS, who's on the pitch right now for York, injured. He's alright, though.

17min

Interesting note brought up by the play-by-play guys. York had to forfeit four games this year for using Toronto FC striker Andrea Lombardo, who didn't qualify to play in OUA. They also have Nana Attakora-Gyan on their roster, which may be a mistake, but he has also played for TFC this year.

14min

Well, Bonenfant should have had that. Suter flung a ball in from the left which Karim spills for York. It rolls to Bonenfant, who blazes it low and wide when he only needed to roll it in. Shame, shame.

12min

That goal was at 8min. We'll get this eventually, I know we will. Definitely Dominic Antonini who scored it, though.

7min

That goal came at about 5 min, a lot fo stuff was going on. I don't have rosters yet, I don't know if I'll get them from SSN. But the controversy is on, now. Tough one for Montreal, having nearly scored at the other end. By the way you can email/comment on this match by emailing me at matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca.

3min

Goal! We are off, by the way. York are playing a 4-3-3 here. Montreal are using a 4-4-2. And York have just picked up a yellow to Luca Forno for a nasty foul. And Montreal nearly score, which is saved. Then York break, quite possibly offside, and Antonini scores. Montreal all appeal, but the flag stays down.

Oops

That's the Lions v. Carabins, men, not women.

Hello, welcome to the game.

Hi. I'm back for the Montreal Carabins and the Brock Badgers. I'm having a bit of a difficulty with the video feed, I'll be with you in a sec.

Dal Men win, more info on Thursday

At least one Tiger team will finish as high as sixth place. The men won their consolation match today against Victoria to go on to the fifth place game. The game was scoreless until penalties, which I have no idea who scored, as they haven't been posted.

One thing that has been posted is the highlights pack for the Dal v. Victoria women's game. You can see it all for yourself at www.ssncanada.ca. It's probably better that way, since my attempts at describing the play of Dal 'keeper Heather Armstrong can't come close to actually seeing it.

I don't want to suggest--not for a minute--that Armstrong had much help. 24 shots is too many shots to give up in any game. Watching the highlights, though, I can't help but notice that a lot of those shots weren't exactly great efforts.

To be honest, I suspect Armstrong is still hurt. She picked up an injury a few weeks ago, and I cannot understand how she had so much difficulty with these goals.

The first goal from Kendra Flock, ten minutes in, bounced straight past Armstrong and in. Judging from the not so great angle on the replay, it's probably about 20 to 25 yards out. It bounced once in front of Armstrong and that probably fooled her, the surface was very, very wet, and reacting to a bounce like that would have been hard. Still, she should have stayed on her feet there and just gotten the body behind it.

Victoria's second, just before half-time was the killer. To be fair, Janelle Smith hit a very, very good shot--a perfect chip which would have tested Armstrong at the best of times. She's stopped plenty of those, though, and I've seen her do it. She's good in the air for her size, but didn't give herself a chance to be here, given she was 16 yards out of goal and off to the side when the shot went over her. The ball was never available to be claimed, and her decision to come for it can only be called a bit suspect.

The third goal was truly unstoppable, a blast from Moira Hood that dipped just below the bar. Armstrong did well to get up to it, but couldn't quite get fingers to it. Which doesn't absolve the Tigers right back, whose number I cannot see on the video. She should have closed down Hood a lot faster, and gave a talented player way too much space to launch one.

By the fourth, it looked very much as though Dal had given up. Leigh Quinlan broke in on Armstrong--no sign of Alannah MacLean--and managed to hustle the ball around her. Armstrong got down and got a hand in on Quinlan, but couldn't hang on to it, and Quinlan rolled it into an empty goal.

The field was sodden, the ball slick, and the tension high for Dal--one could absolve them of some blame for that. But the fact still remains that this has to be one of the worst performances I've seen this year from Dal. In order to win at the CIS level, one has to be able to deal with rain and tension, among other things.

In the end, maybe it was better we didn't see it live.

Well, what to think about now?

So, the semis (or, in the Tigers case, consolations) are upon us now. I've just updated the schedule for you on the right side there. I'll definitely be here for the TWU v. Victoria game, which should be a dandy. So get your laptop out while watching the hockey and follow along.

Check back here throughout tomorrow for the occaisional blurb on how Dal's consolation matches went, as well as any schedule changes necessary.

I'm very disappointed that I didn't get any emails--I expect a much better performance come Saturday.

And finally--since it is 12:30 and I have a 10:30 class tomorrow and have to drive in at 8, so I'm headed to bed. Thanks to Jason Tenter, the web editor for the Gazette who got the whole thing set up in just a couple of hours this afternoon. Thanks to Nick Khattar, the sports editor at the Gazette, for his guidance during my first run through, and thanks to any of you who may have been following along tonight for bearing with me through the mistakes.

Hope to see you Saturday,
Dylan Matthias


Today's scores:

Men:

University of Victoria Vikes 0-3 York Lions
Dalhousie Tigers 0-2 Universite de Montreal Carabins
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 0-1 Trinity Western Spartans
Universite de Laval 4-1 Carleton University

Women:

Cape Breton University Capers 1-2 Brock University Badgers
Universite de Montreal Carabins 1-0 University of Ottawa Gee-Gees
University of Victoria Vikes 4-0 Dalhousie Tigers
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 0-3 Trinity Western Spartans

Full-time

And that's it! TWU 3-0 Laurier. Pretty solid win for TWU. Laurier now play Dal, by the way. One from Wright, two from Gerig win it for Trinity.

90min

Ferguson goes down in the box, which from our angle looks a penalty. The ref has a better angle, though, and probably gets that decision right. It's 3-0, anyway, it's not as though it matters all that much.

89min

Corner to Laurier. Nothing comes of it. Laurier keep up the pressure, for sport, if nothing else.

88min

Ah! Esperanza is playing for Laurier. Look at that.

87min

Someting of an injury for Laurier. There's a sub coming. McKee's out, although I don't think she had the injury. Alyssa Coppolino replaces her.

80min

Good, we're back. Still a bit flickery, but we'll be alright. Dietrich and Meyer get in a bit of trouble in the right corner dealing with McKee.

78min

Another video crash.... 30 minutes this time, though. Hold on.

75min

This game has slowed a bit, Trinity might be tiring here. It might also be time for Wright to be withdrawn--she's tailed off a bit. Her pace isn't quite there anymore. And the pitch is slippery, you don't want to risk an injury. Given the scoreline, why not take her off and save her for Saturday? If Victoria's performance against Dal is anything to go by, they may need her.

70min

Trinity sub. Mobilio's off again. Tessa Meyer gets a run out for 20 minutes here.

68min

Great pass off by Ferguson on the right for a streaking Wigston. The cross is maybe slightly overhit, but Gerig--who is somewhat taller than everyone else--gets a piece of it. She can't turn it in, though.

64min

Dumerton is floored by Isaacs, and stays down, although she's alright. That's a foul in my mind. Not in the ref's, apparently.

Paige Heathcote is in for Laurier, Malizia out. That reeks of desperation. Malizia's not been effective at all, really, but if I had to pick a scorer for Laurier, it would eithe rbe her or McKee.

60min

Laurier do get right back in it, getting a corner, which they waste.

TWU bring off Roth for Jessica Filion.

59min

Goal! Gerig-TWU

That's it. That is all for Laurier. Good pass from Dumerton finds Gerig in the ideal spot, about 10 yards out on the right. Good shot, hard and low.

56min

Funk makes a great strip off of McKee. McKee managed to get some space and she had very real idea about going around Funk, but Funk stuck out her arms and grabbed it. Great save.

54min

Da Silva is back for Laurier, too.

53min

Kayla Dilling concedes a stupid free kick 20 yards from goal, for which she is quite rightly booked. The free kick, despite being in a position from which any striker should like her chances and with the wall mispositioned, she chips a terrible shot to the keeper.

52min

Melissa Mobilio is back.

50min

Gerig steps her way around several defenders. Her not-as-hard-as-it-needed-to-be shot is pushed wide by Woeller, but Wright lays it back in front. Gerig isn't too far away, but she slips on the sodden pitch. That was perilous for a moment, there.

49min

To correct my earlier wild assertion that the colour guy was Alan Erington. It's not. I have no idea who he is, but his name is Colin. Sorry Alan, Colin.

48min

Rebecca Ferguson gets some space on the right and lasers it over the bar. She's been good tonight, Ferguson.

47min

The play-by-play guys are rubbing it in again. 4-0.... 4-0.... I just don't believe that.

We're back

And we're off. By the way. Western's Mobilio was replaced by Roth, not Roch. I may not have mentioned that. We're operating a bit on the fly here. This'll get a bit easier by Saturday.

Actual information

If you have been following (and I stress that I have no evidence anyone actually is) then you may have noticed that Nikki Wright is a very good player. And you may have asked why she won rookie and player of the year awards in Canada West. She had 12 goals in 14 appearances, that's why. She's also won national rookie of the year. Whenever she touches the ball one is reminded of that touch that tends to lead to goals. Her runs are good, she can step around players. I'd remember the name Nikki Wright if I were you. If she can beat university players that way she can then she might end up in the national team system.

Reflection time

Well, you can do all the reflection you care to. I'm off to sort out a few of the more glaring technical problems on this blog in the ten minutes I have. See you inthe second.

Half-Time

The ref blows for half time. Not much to report here, but Laurier have some serious work to do. Here is the best lineup I can get you for Laurier:

Woeller, Horner, McKee, Malizia, Anderson, Pedron, Currie, Da Silva/Carter (sub), Hopper.

Coach is Barry MacLean.

What's that you say? The roster only has nine players? You're right, it does. If I get the others, I'll let you know, but my video crashed (which it has been doing repeatedly, always at the most annoying of times) when they did the Laurier line-up, so we may never find out.

42min

Long free kick from the right is deflected to Funk by McKee. McKee could have done a lot better there, but her touch was utterly dreadful; that should have halved the lead, really. She couldn't have been more than 3 yards out.

40min

Bit quiet at the moment. All midfield, I'm afraid. Trinity are controlling the game. By the way, the reason the times just went a bit weird. I was about 8 minutes behind. And the play-by-play guy (who's name is a good, amicable Kelsey) informs me that the Dal women lost 4-0 to Victoria. I'll try and get you some more on that at the half.

29min

Dumerton heads a corner for TWU but commits a foul while doing so.

26min

I should mention that you can just use the F5 button to refresh the page every time you want to check back.

25min

Wright and Gerig are dynamic together, switching all over the place, moving well, and very quick. And they have a goal each. Substitution here, too. Becca Isaacs replaces Erica Horner for Laurier.

24min

Hopper, who is playing for Laurier (I'll get a complete line-up here soon) sends her cross from a dangerous position into the side netting.

23min

Laurier with a little pressure now, not much coming from it. Funk claims it now and clears.

21min

Trinity Western support are out in force tonight. About 25 guys out in the pouring rain, wearing nothing but boxer shorts. Think what you will, I guess.

19min

So, a little calm here. Currie is also playing for Laurier. Emails if you wish to matthias@student.ednet.ns.ca. Engage me in conversation!

17min

TWU are ripping Laurier apart here. Jessica Carter replaced Da Silva. And a great chance as I try and type, Wright hammers a cross in, Gerig and Ferguson both just miss it.

15min

Small correction, it's absolutely tippign down here. Couple of subs, too. Mobilio out, Brianna Rock in for TWU. Da Silva out (so she was in...) for Laurier, and I have no idea who replaced her.

14min

Goal! TWU-Gerig

Wright runs onto a beautiful cross from Ferguson, then chips off Woeller, but can only tip it straight to Gerig who taps it into an open goal.

12min

More lineups for Laurier...

Anderson and Pedron. Free kick off a foul is cleared by Laurier.

10min?

Goal! Nikki Wright-TWU Spartans.

Canada West player of the year and rookie of the year Nikki Wright blaxes past the right back and streaks in on goal, slotting beautifully and perfectly past Woeller in goal. TWU 1-0 Laurier.

More actual detaiuls coming in a moment after I figure the starters out for Laurier. Oh, wait, TWU have nearly scored, didn't quite get that, I was typing. Oh, and Rebecca Ferguson is hurt, too.

Laurier: Woeller, Horner, McKee, Malizia... I'll get this here.

1min

Right, starters for TWU:

Funk, Wigston, Dilling, McKinnon, Dietrich, Ferguson, Henry, Dumerton, Mobilio, Wright, Gerig. Coach is Graham Roxbrough.

WE ARE GOING!

Yes, we have Trinity Western v. Laurier. No rain. Be right there with starting lineups, we're just underway.

A brief hiatus

Righto, the women's game between Dal and Victoria should be winding down now, still no word on the score. I have to drive home from Halifax, so there won't be any more posts for about an hour or so. With a little luck we'll get the 10:30 match between Trinity Western and Laurier. No notice from the webcaster whether it's been moved yet.

Hopefully it'll be a go, in which case tune in for minute-by-minute coverage starting 10:30ish.

SSN has also said they'll post the Dal game as soon as they can, so I might be able to relay a bit of that to you if there's any down time.

Until 10:30, bye.

Carleton 1-Laval 4

Carleton have been rocked by Laval Rouge et Or. The game ended about an hour ago, so scores are trickling in now. The host Ravens, though, might be wishing they weren't.

Losing 4-1 is bad enough when you're not hosting the CIS tournament.

Carleton scored before the break to go ahead 1-0, but then conceded 4 goals in 28 minutes to give Laval the commanding win.

The actually story isn't in yet,but the box score is, and already it doesn't look good for the Ravens. They now double the number of red cards to two so far. In just four games two teams have already had a man sent off. No word yet on what exactly Andrew Park did to warrant the two yellows he received, hopefully that will be forthcoming soon.

This is not just bad news for Carleton. It's also bad news for Ottawa as a city. The attendance for this game is a great big zero, which may indicate the numbers aren't in yet (or it could simply be wrong--that happens, too), but so far,t he attendance numbers have been posted.

You see, all this is significant because Ottawa are bidding for an MLS soccer team. Currently, only Toronto has a team in North America's top soccer league: Toronto FC. But there has been much interest from both Montreal and Vancouver revolving around those cities bids to turn their current USL-1 sides into MLS teams (USL-1 is technically a division below MLS, but it is often seen as equal or even superior).

Ottawa, however, doesn't have a USL-1 team. that didn't stop Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk from launching a bid anyway.

Simply put, a poor showing by the city's universities both at the gate and on the pitch in a fairly major tournament (CIS gets national media attention, check out TSN's page, if you like) won't do anything to help show Ottawa is a good, viable city. The poor gate numbers--which, hopefully, will be revised upwards--don't show much passion for the sport in Ottawa. The poor performance from Carleton doesn't reflect as directly on the MLS bid, but ti still puts Ottawa in not necessarily bad, but decidedly gray light.

Fortunately, Ottawa still has the women's University of Ottawa Gee-Gees to help them out. the score from that game hasn't wafted my way yet. With a little luck, Ottawa's ladies will salvage some pride.

Just checking in....

Hi. Still nothing. I'm scouring the web for some scores, but not getting much. If anyone out there has any good tips, now would be the time.

Based on my extremely rough estimate, it's probably about half-time.

Women underway

By now the women's game we WERE going to cover for you should be underway. So far I can find no evidence anywhere that anyone has scored. I'll keep looking, though.

In case you missed it, the game was moved from the super-nice grass pitch at Trinity Western to a back-up artificial turf field due to heavy rains. There's no internet available there, so we're out of luck for a stream to watch. Worse still, the rain isn't expected to let up any time soon, so this might be an ongoing problem for the women's tournament.

Women's Upset

CBU are out int he women's tournament as well, losing 2-1 to extreme underdogs Brock University (Brock qualified 4th in the Canada West conference, and still won the playoffs to come to nationals). So the defending champs are out, meaning I am now 0-1 on my predictions, having chosen CBU last night to repeat. They were, quite frankly, the best team in this thing. Great defense, good offense, incredible goalkeeping.

This will be a huge disappointment for them. Brock scored early, in the eighth minute, from Cassandra Von Bakel (now nice summaries for me to use here, I was in class during this one). Cape Breton would score in second half stoppage, with a goal from Jennifer Sheppard, but it came one goal too late--Von Bakel had doubled her tally to put the result beyond all doubt two minutes earlier.

It's a rough result for Cape Breton, it's hard to tell from the bare minimum stats available right now, but it looks like the vaunted offense of Kristina Weatherbie failed to materialise, and the staunch defense Dal could only beat once in 270 minutes of play this season gave up two goals.

Dalhousie Tigers 0-2 Montreal Carabins

Yes, yes, you read correctly; our beloved Tigers are out. And in case you missed it earlier, the women are now not being done live today--or at least, not fully, since their game has been moved to an alternate field without Internet access. Sadly, we aren't in Langley, B.C.--though we are probably drier on account of that.

So how did the men lose, exactly?

Well. despite a numerical advantage on the pitch for 30 minutes, Dal gave up two late goals. The first half was scoreless-- with 'keeper Ben Ur in goal for the Tigers. After a tremendous AUS final he came out flying again, and Dal didn't crack until the 72nd minute, when Nawar Hanna was able to finish off a rebound near the goal.

Montreal had to do their hardest work on ten men, though. Wandrille Lefevre was sent off on a straight red card for a retaliatory foul, according to the summary from Carleton University (the hosts, which is where I'm getting my info right now). 7 minutes later Hanna scored.

It never looked like Dal would win-they were only able to get three shots--three!--at Montreal. Ur was forced to make 13 saves.

Jean-Jacques Seba scored late to add some insurance for Montreal. His strike from 18 yards found the top corner.

So what does this mean, exactly?

Last night, I picked the Tigers as having as good a chance as anyone of going through in what is a highly skilled but largely even bunch of teams. It would seem I was wrong.

The Tigers had a great season--which no one expected, since they finished abysmally last year. They impressed in Sackville, New Brunswick to earn their spot at Nationals. Perhaps they were underdogs, but it still remains hard to pick one favourite team in this group.

Without seeing the video (here's hoping they'll post it), it's hard to say how badly they were outclassed by the bigger Université de Montreal, but a 13-3 shot count isn't good news any day. In the end, they may simply been shut down; forced to fall back on Ur, who couldn't quite hold everything out.

At the very least, they took Lefevre with them. Retaliation has to be amongst the stupidest ways to earn a straight red--up there with dissent. He'll miss at least the semis and is also subject to a disciplinary review. If it doesn't go his way, he could also be suspended for the finals, should Montreal make it.

I don't want to go grasping at false positives here--getting knocked out of a tournament cannot and should not be spun off as a bright spot or an accomplishment. But this is a team one year removed from a one-win season. They've exceeded expectations. Ur is only a second-year player. Much of their offense is young as well. Kerry Weymann looks set to replace John Ballantyne as a rock at defense.

This team has the parts it needs--it WAS in the running. But someone had to lose. There's hope yet, though, that the rather old looking sign in Wickwire field--the one that lists Dal's past championship victories--could have a CIS title added to it not too far off.

Semi-Final match-ups-Men

That's semi-final match-ups, there. I'm still getting the hang of this--never having used a blog before. So, here is your schedule for Saturday, courtesy the CIS website.

York v. Montreal (3:00pm Atlantic)

Trinity Western v. Carleton/Laval (5:30pm Atlantic)

Scores from today:

Victoria 0-3 York
Dalhousie 0-2 Montreal
Laurier 0-1 Trinity Western

I'll get some game summaries for you soon.

Changes A-Plenty

Hello again, everyone who my or may not be already here to follow this.

A few distressing things:

1. Really bad weather in Langley, B.C. right now for the women. The game's been moved, and the internet video stream that we were relying on can't access the new field. So the 7:30 game is a no-go. I'll try and keep you posted throughout the evening on what's going on there. I'll keep my ears open for any news.

2. The Dal men are out, having lost 2-0 to Montreal earlier today (not at the time listed below--sorry). The consolation tournament is not streamed, so I can only offer updates, not live coverage.

3. The news on Langley gets worse and worse. The outlook right now is heavy rain all weekend, so the chances of them playing a game on Trintiy Western's extremely nice grass pitch are virtually nil. Hopefully, the skies will clear; but I'm not counting on it.

4. The only piece of good news is that it's nice and clear in Ottawa, where the men are. So we can get on that for Saturday. Quarter-final match-ups coming shortly.

Intro

So you've come to visit our live coverage page. Good.

Sadly, our correspondent has class coming up between 4 and 5pm, so there's no coverage of the men's game against Montreal. We'll update that for you as soon as possible.

Please do drop by around 7 as we'll be getting the women's game underway. Kick-off is 7:30, we'll start posting a bit earlier. You can have a look at the upcoming schedule on the right; we'll try and keep that updated, too.

This is the first time we've ever done something like this so bear with us as we straighten a few things out over the next few hours.

Feel free to leave a comment below, we welcome any feedback.

More on the way.

(All times are Atlantic.)