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CapU Blues win silver-medal at CCAA National Championship

team photo
team photo

The CapU Blues faced a steep challenge as they headed into the CCAA National Championship game against the top-seed and tournament favourite, the Humber Hawks. Both teams scoreless through the first 20 minutes, Humber had the chance to take the lead on a two-man breakaway, but Blues' goalkeeper Hudson Nelles made an excellent save to force the shot wide. Momentum completely shifted in favour of the Blues when two Hawks athletes were shown red-cards in the 30th and 37th minutes of play, giving the Blues a two-man advantage for the entire second half. Despite the Hawks' two men disadvantage, excellent play by their goalkeeper and defense limited the Blues scoring opportunities. Scoreless after 90 minutes of play, the match headed to extra time. After a couple of fantastic saves by the Humber goalkeeper, the game remained scoreless after 120 minutes of play and the national champion would be decided by penalty kicks. For the Blues, Nicolas Morello, Kamyar Amini and Lucien Kessler all converted their penalty kicks. With Humber leading 4-3, Andres Romo missed his attempt and the Hawks were able to convert their final shot to win 5-3 on penalty kicks. The CCAA all-star committee recognized three CapU athletes for their excellent play at the national championships and named them to the tournament all-star team, Bruno Fieri-Marinho, Kamyar Amini and All-Canadian Kristian Yli-Hietanen. Head coach Paul Dailly commented after the game, "It was too bad… we let it go to PK's and really it's a 50-50 chance. It was a tough game, we knew we were in tough against an experienced Humber team and we just couldn't breakthrough." Although it was not the result Dailly hoped for, he feels extremely proud of his team and their performance, "The guys have nothing to hang their head about especially after a lousy start to the PACWEST season. We basically ran the table in October and went 2-1 at nationals. Anytime you win a silver at nationals, there is nothing to be ashamed of." The CapU Blues capped off a great season with a CCAA National Championship silver medal after entering the tournament as the third-seeded team.