The Memorial Sea-Hawks men's soccer team (5-4-3) is heading to Cape Breton this weekend as the 6th seed, and they will be facing the 3rd seeded UNB Reds (7-4-1) on Thursday, November 4th at 7:00 PM ADT. The team was successfully able to get a hard-earned 2 points in last weekend's series versus the Moncton Aigles Bleus, enough to get the Sea-Hawks in the final playoff spot.
The Sea-Hawks enjoyed a great season, playing an exciting brand of soccer that led to the team scoring 28 goals for, placing 2nd in all of the AUS. Led by offensively by forward Emmanuel Dolo, who's 11 goals, 7 assists and 18 points all ranked 2nd in the AUS. Sea-Hawks forward Jacob Grant was able to create a dynamic duo alongside Dolo, producing 5 goals and 7 points (both top-10 marks in AUS). Dolo was announced as an AUS first-team All-Star, while Grant and centerback Harry Carter were announced to the second-team. Carter, who's the Sea-Hawks captain, was the catalyst for the team's defence, consistently denying potential scoring chances, and chipping in with 3 goals on the season. Sea-Hawks goalkeeper Dylan Crichton was solid when he was relied upon this season, posting a 0.746 save percentage and a 1.67 goals-against average with 2 shutouts, picking up 4 victories in 9 games. Crichton was also awarded the "Student Athlete Community Service Award" in the AUS, a clearly deserving recipient of the honour.
As for the 3rd place UNB Reds they rely on stingy defence and balanced scoring to do their damage, and it clearly has been effective this season. The Reds have created a nice connection between midfielder Tom Phuelpin (5G, 3A) and forward Grant Takacs (6G, 2A), both led the team in points with 8. The Reds were led in goal by Louis-Charles Vaillancourt's 5 victories, followed by solid production with a 0.783 save percentage and a 1.30 goals-against average with 3 shutouts.
Captain Harry Carter says the "team is feeling great going into the weekend. It's nice knowing we beat them before but doesn't mean anything for Thursday's game. We’ll have to perform again on the night to get the result.” The two sides played a pair of games versus each other during the regular season, with the Memorial Sea-Hawks winning both games by scores of 3-1 and 3-2 at King George V Park, in St. Johns.