Previewing Saturday: Dal Tigers v. UPEI Panthers (Men)

By Dylan Matthias




The UPEI Panthers will have to hope Jimmie Mayaleh can sink the Tigers again this Saturday. The two teams meet at Wickwire field at 3:15 p.m.

Mayaleh and winger Jarrod Murphy shocked Dal in the AUS semi-finals in 2009 and the Tigers have never been the same since. Those two players are still around for the Panthers, but it's the supporting cast who let UPEI down.

The Panthers finished eighth last year. Mayaleh had a quiet year. That's all it took, really. This year could be worse unless someone comes out of the woodwork for the Panthers.

Given their preseason results, that's unlikely to happen. They lost to St. FX, which was probably expected, but then only beat ACAA squad Holland College 1 - 0 before losing to Mount Allison by the same score. Mount Allison finished six points below UPEI in the standings last year.

Not all is rosy for the Tigers, either, and the first game will be a bit of a gut check for Dal to see what the real potential of this team is. A 1 - 0 loss to Saint Mary's and a draw with St. FX are good preseason results, but the team's youth means consistency may be an issue.

Gone is captain Ross Hagen, replaced by his brother Mark. Hagen scored most of Dal's goals last year from midfield. Hamzeh Afani has departed from ACL purgatory and is not with the team. Tyler Lewars had better start scoring, or this could be a long season at Wickwire.

The good news is the defense is rock solid. Ben Ur is phenomenal in goal and has quite literally won his team championships in the past. Kerry Weymann is terrific defensively, though he battled injuries last year. Nathan Rogers is also solid in the back. If Zach Fisher and Jordan Mannix can remain fairly consistent--Fisher got better as last year went on--Dal look good defensively.

Depth will be an interesting question mark. Lewars aside, almost none of Dal's 2010 recruits are back, which is a worrying sign. Abuchie Ezurike, Sam Vlessing, Nick Stoddard, and Nino Kovacevic are all gone. Promising full-back Kieran Hooey has replaced his Youtube soccer recruiting video with a video plugging his lawn care company.

In their place are large group of rookies, mostly midfielders. Brett McKean may have to help out occasionally on defense, and it will be interesting to see if King's transfer player Rylan Palmer-Dixon makes the transition to AUS. James Nearing, head coach Pat Nearing's son, is also on the team.

It's hard to see UPEI threatening Dal significantly if they can't beat Mount Allison. A 2 - 1 win to Dal seems plausible, with either Mayaleh or Murphy nicking a goal against the run of play.

--Dylan Matthias is the editor-in-chief at the Dalhousie Gazette. He runs Dal Soccer Live on the side to provide more in-depth coverage of AUS and ACAA soccer. He has been a Toronto FC fan since Danny Dichio scored the team's first ever goal. It showed him the magic of soccer.