Host Varsity Reds advance to semifinals with 5-0 win over Tigers

(FREDERICTON, N.B.) - The three-time defending AUS champion UNB Varsity Reds are moving on at this year's conference title tournament. 

The host Varsity Reds scored a 5-0 win over the Dalhousie Tigers in the second quarter-final game at the Subway AUS Men's Soccer Championship. 

Marcus Lees (Barrie, Ont.) scored in the 27th minute to put the Varsity Reds in front, a position they never relinquished. 

Matt Quigley (Conquerall Mills, N.S.), Jose Lopez (Calgary, Alta.), Alex O'Brien (Charlottetown, P.E.I.), and Ben Gorringe (Halifax, N.S.) also scored for the No. 4-ranked Varsity Reds. 

Evan Barker (Winnipeg, Man.), named the AUS Rookie of the Year earlier in the day, made four saves for the shutout. 

"The score line is a little bit surprising, but the way that we played, I don't think, really was," said Varsity Reds head coach Miles Pinsent. "We had a lot of confidence with what we've been working on here over the last three or four weeks and it's been paying off in our last four games." 

Lees goal came after a tremendous solo effort. 

He took possession of the ball just inside the Tigers zone, then dashed through three Tigers defenders before firing a left-foot shot to the right side of Dal's net. 

"Max (Vitrotti) won the ball. I took advantage of it and countered really quick," said Lees. "I took on a few players. I surprised myself with a goal and I'm happy that I got it." 

"It was a great goal they scored against us," said Tigers head coach Pat Nearing. "Goals change games, and that goal changed the game. That's the way it is." 

UNB took that 1-0 lead into half-time. 

In the second half, the host team erupted. 

Freshman midfielder Quigley made it 2-0 in the 54th minute. 

Lopez beat Dal keeper T.J. Leopold (Bedford, N.S.) to a loose ball in the crease, scoring in the 62nd minute. 

O'Brien scored in the 75th minute, before Gorringe deflected an O'Brien shot in the 83rd minute. 

The Varsity Reds will now face the No. 1 seed, the Acadia Axemen, in the semifinals. 

UNB handed the Axemen their only loss of the regular season, back in September, but Lees doesn't see many similarities in the next match. 

"It's good experience to have that, but even that game was a tough one," said Lees. "We'll have a new approach to this game. They finished atop the league, so I've got to give them respect for that, but we're going to come hard again and we're going to try and make it to the final." 

Recap and photos courtesy of Andy Campbell, UNB Athletics