The Dalhousie Tigers - Dalhousie University

The 1995 Dalhousie Tigers became the first (and only) Nova Scotia men’s university soccer team to win a Canadian university championship and 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of this fantastic achievement.

Following an undefeated regular season (8-3-0), the Tigers hosted the Atlantic University Athletic Association (AUAA) championship at Wickwire field to advance to the nationals with wins over UPEI (4-0) and UNB (1-0). The Tigers had been in the AUAA final five straight seasons, winning three of five titles, including 1995.

The Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) championship was hosted by the University of Quebec, Trois Rivieres. The Tigers first group game was against the Ontario champion Brock Badgers who scored the first goal of the match. Striker Mark Ellis notched the equalizer late in the game resulting in a 1-1 tie.

In the second group game, Trevor Chisholm was stellar in nets and the Tigers got goals from winger Paul English and midfielder David McFarlane, resulting in a 2-1 win over the McGill Redmen. The victory earned the Tigers a berth in the championship final against the highly-rated Alberta Golden Bears.

The Golden Bears breezed into the national final with a 6-1 victory over tournament host, Trois Rivieres. The Tigers stepped into their second-ever national final as the underdogs, yet still undefeated on the season.

The game commenced in appalling conditions, with driving snow and howling winds. Playing against the wind in the first half, the Tigers took an early lead with a goal from winger Chad Thorpe. The Golden Bears put a lot of pressure on the Black and Gold, but they couldn’t get past the solid defensive play of Chris Devlin and Stephen Cormier, so the Tigers went into the half with a one-goal advantage.

The snow continued to fall in the second half, but this time the Tigers had the benefit of the wind. The game was tight until the 67th minute, when the Golden Bears scored the equalizer. Despite this set back, the Tigers rallied and slowly started to take control of the game.  Following a prolonged period of pressure by the Tigers, Graeme Allerdice found the back of the net in the 81st minute to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.  It was Allerdice’s first goal of the season that came on his 21st birthday. Mark Ellis put the game out of reach when he was brought down in the box and earned a penalty which he converted in the dying minutes of the game.

At the final whistle the Tigers celebrated in the snow, becoming the first and only Tigers team to win a men’s national soccer championship.

Mark Ellis led the Tigers in scoring that season with 10, including three during the AUAA championship and another two at the national championship. Striker Jeff Hibberts led the Tigers in the regular season, scoring seven goals in 11 games. Trevor Chisholm, Chris Devlin, Paul English, Ante Jazic and Marc Rainford were all selected as AUAA all-stars. Jazic was also the AUAA rookie of the year and a CIAU second team All-Canadian. English was selected as the CIAU tournament MVP, while he and David McFarlane were named to the all-star team.

Regular Season Statistics

AUAA Championship @ Dalhousie University

CIAU Championship @ University of Quebec, Trois-Rivieres

Roster