Brandon Salick
STU BA '24
Fredericton, NB – The St. Thomas University Tommies men's soccer team ran away 2-0 victors over the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves after a feisty contest at Grant-Harvey Turf Field. The Tommies have now won five of their seven games and are still undefeated.
It did not take long for the sparks to fly in this game as the deadlock was broken in the sixth minute. Ben Davidge (Fredericton, NB) laid the ball off to Lucas Joel (Courtice, ON) at the top of the box and he arrowed the ball beyond the keeper to give STU the lead. UNBSJ Seawolves never gave up and managed to get to halftime while only being a goal down.
The second half was more tactical from the start and it was visible. There was congestion in the middle of the field with neither team able to get into a rhythm. The game once again shifted in favor of STU as Josh Oakes (Kitchener, ON) rose highest at the back-post to head in the Tommies' second goal of the afternoon. This was both the first goal of the season for Joel and Oakes.
Despite being in control of the game, STU forward and league top-scorer, Brett Springer, was shown a red card for a challenge on an opposing player. This forced the Tommies to play the remainder of the match under serious pressure. The pressure amounted to nothing as they held on until it became 10 vs 10 when the Seawolves also had a player sent off.
The STU coach, John-Ryan Morrison said, "Just like every game versus SJ, it was a physical encounter and we're going into the Thanksgiving break undefeated so it was a good game for us."
When asked about how his team coped with going down to ten men he responded, "Defensively, I think we're the best team in the league and we reacted well to going a man down and the guys dug deep and really wanted the three points."
The Tommies will face the Crandall Univeristy Chargers on October 13th at 6 p.m. at Grant-Harvey Turf Field, and the Seawolves will get the Chargers on October 5th in a midweek affair at Canada Games Stadium in Saint John, NB.