Brent Mutis
CapU Blues sports info
In what’s shaping up to be a tight battle for position in the standings, the Capilano Blues scored a crucial 2-1 win Sunday to earn a split of their weekend road trip to Vancouver Island University (VIU).
Rookie forward Aydin Ali scored both goals Sunday for the Blues, with the winner coming early in the second half. Ali opened the scoring in the 21st minute, putting home a goal off a long throw-in by Stefano Dal Sasso that was headed on by a VIU defender to Ali who knew exactly what to do, side-volleying the ball past the Mariners keeper.
The home side equalized 15 minutes later when Brian Bland ran onto a long forward ball, heading it toward Blues keeper Graydon Sherle. Bland, Blues midfielder Aiden Adams and Sherle all converged on the ball at the same time, but Sherle’s stop rebounded off Bland and bounced into the net.
A 1-1 halftime score was broken just three minutes into the second half, with Ali’s winner coming in similar fashion to his first goal. A long throw-in by Dal Sasso was headed by Tommy Millar and eventually found its way through a maze of legs to Ali who placed a shot that pinballed home, deflecting past the VIU keeper off the foot of a Mariners defender.
The Sunday win made for a nice ferry ride home after CapU was upended 2-1 Saturday with VIU’s Charlie Smith scoring twice for the home side. Trailing by a goal in the second half, the Blues tied it on a Sebastian Cirotto goal, his fifth of the season, after he corralled a loose ball in front of the net after a nice cross from Zach Gabrys.
It stayed tied until minute 79 when VIU was awarded a penalty kick after Josh Rayner went down in the Blues area after getting tangled with Sherle. Smith’s shot went just inside the right post, just past Sherle’s diving effort.
With the split, Capilano is now second in the PACWEST standings with a 3-2-1 record. They have a pair of home games this weekend with a Saturday 3:30 p.m. start against Douglas and a Sunday 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Langara.
