Roughed Up

Men’s Soccer Team Falls Hard In Season-Opener

SportsSamantha Mileto — Published September 9, 2012

A second-half offensive outburst by the Université de Montréal Carabins men’s soccer team led them to a 5-0 win over the Concordia Stingers in Wednesday night’s season opener at CEPSUM Stadium.

The Carabins had several chances to take over the game early. In the 17th minute, Adama Sissoko came down the wing and tried to cross it to teammate Vincent de Bruille, but the pass was cleared by the Stingers.

As well, seven minutes later, the Carabins’ Sami Obaid was awarded a free kick from 20 yards, but his shot went just wide.

The Carabins almost got the lead in the 21st minute, when Stingers goalkeeper Nicholas Giannone fumbled the ball after a save, but it trickled just wide of the goalpost.

Université de Montréal did take the 1-0 lead however, when Carabins defender Eduardo Herrera headed in a corner kick from the penalty area with five minutes left in the first half.

The Stingers did not fare any better in the second half. Six minutes into it, Obaid scored his first of two goals of the night on a corner kick that went off the chest of a Stingers defender.

Obaid completed the twosome two minutes later when he was given a partial breakaway. Giannone came out to try to stop him, but Obaid was able to chip the ball into the net, giving the Carabins a 3-0 lead.

Minutes later, Gianonne made a save on a cross from a UdeM attack, but allowed a huge rebound to Sissoko, who made no mistake and buried the Carabins’ fourth goal of the game.

Stingers forward Gabriel Quinn finally got through the Carabins defense eight minutes later, but he was called offside.

With four minutes left in the game, Stingers midfielder Christopher Mirasyedi crossed to to an open Quinn, but he couldn’t find the back of the net.

The Carabins scored their final goal off a set play with less than a minute left in the game, as midfielder Samuel Leblanc scored off a header inside the penalty area.

The loss leaves the Stingers with a lot to work on, according to assistant coach François Bastien.

“It was a tough loss. We lost the middle of the field. They scored on three set plays. They scored late in the first half, early in the second half, and the game was over.

“I think we try to identify the weaknesses,” he continued. “We have a few weaknesses here, [like] defending set plays against us. We need to do a much better job doing that; we will spend time on that.”