Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics
Antigonish, NS – Mohammed Jaber (Halifax, NS) scored two second half goals as the Dalhousie Tigers defeated the U SPORTS No. 10 ranked STFX X-Men 3-2 Friday evening in AUS action at STFX Stadium.
The game winning goal came in the 85th minute as the teams played exciting end to end action with numerous scoring opportunities throughout the game.
X-Men midfielder Max Bodurtha (Halifax, NS) opened the scoring in the 12th minute of play as he pounced on a rebound and made no mistake in finding the back of the Dalhousie goal. The rebound came after Tigers goalkeeper AJ Kapilan (Halifax, NS) made a save off a Logan Rieck (Cambridge, ON) free kick.
The Tigers answered with an equalizing goal 12 minutes later as Kyle Routledge (Halifax, NS) blasted a high shot past the outstretched hands of X-Men keeper Sam Diltz (Newmarket, ON).
The 1-1 score held up at halftime.
The teams ramped up the shots in the second half of the game, exchanging several scoring chances.
Jack Ellis (Liverpool, England) made a goal line save for the Tigers off a Kyle Cordeiro (Oakville, ON) shot to keep the tie intact for his squad 10 minutes into the second half.
The X-Men continued their pressure, but the Tigers came right back downfield and Diltz had to be sharp as he made consecutive saves after Jared Ndopedro (Campbellton, NB) hit the cross bar.
Rieck hit the cross bar for the X-Men in the 61st minute as both teams kept pressuring for the go-ahead goal.
That goal came in the 77th minute when veteran Tigers striker Jaber beat Diltz on a low shot that snuck underneath the 6'5" X-Men keeper. The marker came a minute after Diltz denied the same Jaber on a high shot that he got a hand on up and over the cross bar.
Rieck tied the game at 2-2 when he tallied in the 84th minute off a free kick from 25 yards out, but the Tigers quickly regained their lead when Jaber found a seam and sprinted though, scoring on a high laser beam shot for the game winner.
Rieck received player of the game honours for the X-Men, while Tigers midfielder Routledge was the Subway player of the game.
The Tigers (4-2-4) continue their weekend with a road trip to Sydney tomorrow for a 7:15 pm game against the first place Cape Breton Capers.
The X-Men (6-3-1) will be back in action on Thursday, October 27th when they welcome the Aigles Bleus de Moncton to STFX Stadium for an 8:15 pm game. This was rescheduled from the cancelled game due to the hurricane.