Men’s Soccer: Stingers Deny Redmen a Playoff Spot

Concordia Beat McGill 1-0 on Final Game of the Season

SportsAlexander Perez — Published October 31, 2016

The Stingers beat the Redmen 1-0 on Sunday in a heated contest at Concordia Stadium. The lone goal came courtesy of Stingers midfielder Abdallah Medouni.

This was a must win for McGill, who came into the game battling for a playoff spot. The Redmen struggled to get into the game. The Stingers’ relentless work rate denied McGill any opportunity to seize possession.

“We were putting emphasis on the offense because they were playing [a 4-3-3 formation],” said Stingers defender Olivier Georges. “We stayed on our regular [4-4-2 formation] and they couldn’t hold it.”

Concordia exploited McGill’s defence, inviting the attack in decisive moments of the match up, which allowed them to pounce on the open spaces up front.

Stingers goalkeeper Karl Goubé wasted no time giving credit to Medouni, who put on a great display on the offensive end.

“[The counter attack] was amazing, especially from Abdallah [Medouni],” said Gouabé. “He was on point today. It’s mostly because of him.”

After losing 5-1 to McGill on the opening game of the season, exacting revenge and denying the Redmen a spot in the top four was added bonus for the Stingers.

“I don’t know if you heard about the first game? The result wasn’t so great,” said Gouabé. “This one means even more especially the fact that we’re cancelling their playoff chances. That feels awesome.”

Tensions between players were tangible during the game. Midway through the second half saw both teams in a confrontation after a controversial foul by Stingers midfielder Jorgen Ulloa-Aguilar.

It was a sixth place finish for the Stingers, who finished off the season with 14 points, only three off of fourth place in the Réseau de Sport Étudiant du Québec. The Stingers will feel a little frustrated, losing out on crucial games during the season. Luck didn’t seem to be on their side, but Georges admits that there is no one to blame but themselves.

“Obviously we needed to win against Laval, we needed to win against UQAM and we didn’t,” said Georges. “We lost against Sherbrooke and we never should have lost.”

The lack of consistency was the Stingers downfall this season. Something they’ll look to improve on come next fall.

Stingers head coach Greg Sutton missed the match, and wasn’t available for post-game questions.