"Soccer Is A Cruel Game" Dalhousie Out of AUS Men's Playoffs

The Dalhousie Tigers are not going to nationals. They lost today in front of about 500 fans at Wickwire Field in a game that was at times thrilling and at times frustrating.

UPEI will instead advance to the finals against Cape Breton and book their tickets to Langley. They outscored the Tigers 4-3.

The game was at times controversial, and provided talking points from start to finish.
Dalhousie came out the stronger team, linking possession very coolly and outplaying the Panthers all over the park.

Hamzeh Afani capitalized on that pressure in the 22nd minute when he around Dylan MacDonald and curled a delicious shot into the top corner.

The Tigers had yet to lose a game this year when scoring first.

The controversy started ten minutes later, when Michel Daoust tried to slide a shot into the net and collided with Panther goalkeeper Tim Kalinowski. A number of UPEI players took exception and mobbed Daoust, grabbing his shirt and pushing him. Several Tigers ran to his defense, but referee Jose Ferres elected only to book Daoust and Kalinowski, ignoring the thrid, fourth, and fifth men in on the play--technically a red-card offense.

Ferres then thrust himself into the spotlight again. Nathan Rogers misplayed the Kalinowski free kick straight to a UPEI player who collided with goalkeeper Ben Ur, catching the Tiger 'keeper's face with his studs. Although Ur fell immobile and holding his head--an obvious head injury--Ferres elected not to stop play and Jimmie Mayaleh fired into an indefensible net with Ur on the ground in pain.

Usually, head injuries are called because of a fear of concussions, especially at the CIS level. This isn't the first time this rule has been miscalled, however. Last year at CIS nationals, the Montreal Carabins won the bronze medal in extra time because a Laval player was on the pitch with a head injury and the referee did not call play.

The Tigers did not react well to the controversial goal. Rather than elevate their game, they let their focus slide. Rookie Jordan Mannix was left one on one with speedy Jordan Murphy. The UPEI winger faked out Mannix who committed way too quickly, broke in, and scored on Ur.

The Tigers just about equalised before half-time when Afani nailed his free kick off the crossbar and down. Some fans thought it had crossed the line, but Ferres disagreed.

The Tigers began pressing in the second half, switching to 3-5-2 formation. This made them particularly open to counterattacks, and UPEI punished Dal's bravery in the 73rd, with Murphy speeding past Mannix easily and evading Hagen's tackle before picking out Mayaleh who guided his shot past Ur.

Four minutes later, UPEI scored again, with Ben Paynter finishing a chance form Jimmie Mayaleh who used his pace to beat Kerry Weymann and Rogers.

After four goals, Tiger's coach Pat Nearing replaced Ben Ur with Colin Power. Nearing said after the game that Ur had never fully recovered from the kick he received in the first half.

The switch energized Dal a bit and Afani scored again, banging in a corner kick. Wes Hawley wen to retrieve the ball and again UPEI players mobbed him and grabbed him en masse. Again, Ferres refused to discipline them for the thuggery.

Julian Perrotta made things very interesting in the 86th when he poached a goal after a phenomenal feat of dribbling by Ross Hagen. Immediately afterwards, Colin Power robbed Jordan Murphy on a breakaway.

Stoppage time brought even more controversy, centered again by Ferres. After a rugby scrum in the UPEI penalty area, a massive shout for handball went up from the Tiger players. Ferres waved the call off.

"I did see the handball," said Perrotta. "I thought I saw a handball. Maybe it was hopeful thinking, but we saw, everyone saw it."

Nearing downplayed Ferres' impact, saying that anything could have happened, but he also pointed out that he thought the third UPEI goal was offside.

The UPEI Panthers advance to the finals at 9:30am tomorrow morning.

Dylan will post a season in review a bit later on, where he'll analyze everything from this year and examine some of the consequences of this game more fully, as well as look ahead to next year.