X-Men blank Reds to clinch AUS final berth

Capers, X-Men to clash for championship on Sunday  

(SYDNEY, N.S.) – On the strength of an offensive outburst early in the first half, keyed by a pair of goals from Charlie Waters (Blackpool, England), the second-ranked STFX X-Men defeated the UNB Reds 4-0 in a semi-final match at the 2023 Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Men's Soccer Championship, presented by Bell – Friday night at Ness Timmons Field on the Cape Breton University (CBU) campus. 

With the victory, the X-Men will play for an AUS conference banner on Sunday – at 4 p.m. ADT – versus the top-ranked and rival CBU Capers.    

In the 10th minute, Isaac VanWychen (Middle Musquodoboit, NS) finished a three-way passing play with conference MVP Kyle Cordeiro (Oakville, ON) and Logan Rieck (Cambridge, ON) to give the White and Blue a 1-0 advantage. 

Less than two minutes later – in the 12th – Dyan Vil (Ottawa, ON) made a sensational run down the wing before curling a nifty pass to Waters, who poked home a shot behind UNB keeper Mahmoud Moustafa (Stratford, PE) to make it 2-0.  

In the 27th minute, Vil and Waters combined, once again, with the former AUS Rookie of the Year tucking a strike inside the goal post behind Moustafa.  

In the 55th minute, off a corner kick to the far post by freshman striker Jackson Purbs (Welland, ON), STFX keeper Sam Diltz (Newmarket, ON) soared to get his hands on the ball, but got upended, which provided an open net for a UNB scoring chance, but X-Men defenders captain Lewis Dye (Fall River, NS) and Damian DeDekker (Ottawa, ON) blocked the shot on their goal line. 

Moments later, in the 58th minute, X-Men defender Jack Kennedy (Antigonish, NS) unleashed a hard shot that was blocked by UNB's Chris Schmit (Vancouver, BC), but he followed up and scorched the rebound top shelf, on the short side behind Mustafa, to make it 4-0.  

The X-Men outshot the Reds 20-12, including 12-3 in shots on goal. 

Waters from STFX was named Player of the Match.  

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