Stingers Still Alive

Concordia Can Still Make Playoffs After Win Over Citadins

SportsJustin Blanchard — Published October 22, 2012

The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team still have a chance to make the playoffs after defeating the UQAM Citadins 1-0 Sunday afternoon.

“We did well. I think we played well the first half, we stuck to a very simple game plan and we got the result,” said coach François Bastien.

The Stingers came out firing from the start, as their first chance on goal came in the third minute when striker Andrew Bryan took a through ball into the keeper’s box, but his shot sailed wide right.

It would be the first of an onslaught of scoring opportunities for Concordia, spending most of the first half in the Citadins’ defensive third. They would come up short on all of those, however, as the game remained tied 0-0 at halftime.

They maintained the pressure throughout the second half, and were rewarded for their efforts when defenceman Christopher Mirasyedi lobbed the ball over UQAM’s defense and into the feet of Bryan, who found the net for the game-winning goal in the 75th minute.

“It was just a long ball played from Chris and I just opened up from the defender and took a one-time shot off a volley,” said Bryan.

The win breaks a five-game losing streak for Concordia, who now sit in sixth place with a 2-6-2 record and eight points on the season.

More importantly, it keeps the Stingers just four points out of fourth place and mathematically in the playoff hunt, reason enough to keep competing with two games remaining.

“It’s a short season and it’s too bad for that, but it’s not too late to get a little bit of momentum going,” said Bastien. “It’s not so much us looking in the past now, it’s what we can do moving forward.”

His players feel the same.

“We have everything to play for and nothing to lose,” said Bryan.