Tommies Spoil Late Lead Against Blue Devils

Tommies Spoil Late Lead Against Blue Devils
Box Score

(Fredericton, NB) The St. Thomas University Tommies drew the University of King's College Blue Devils in heart breaking fashion Sunday afternoon, 3-3.

In a back and forth affair that saw the Tommies take leads of 1-0, 2-0 and 3-2, it was Cash Layden scoring the tying goal in extra time on a corner kick.

"Good first half for us," said head coach John-Ryan Morrison. "We have been struggling to start games well and we knew that King's have scored in the first 10 minutes of every game, so we wanted to get to that mark without conceding a goal, and we did that."

It was rookie Zach Evelyn (Bridgetown, Barbados) who opened the scoring for the Tommies, as he took one touch, turned to the middle of the field and curled a beautiful strike off the post and in.

"Zach is a U-17 National team player for a reason," said Morrison. "Him and his brother and Kyle [Yearwood] are all our Barbadian middles, and it is definitely the best midfield in the league."

Within the first eight minutes of the second half it was 5th year defender Eric Prior (Gananoque, ON) giving the Tommies the 2-0 lead off of a long throw in from Robert LeBlanc (Hartland, NB).

Mubarak Abdul Azeez brought UKC within one in 61st minute.

The 77-minute mark of the game is when things got very interesting for both sides. A handball call in the 18-yard box gave the Blue Devils an opportunity to tie the game at two, and they didn't squander that opportunity, as Kennedy Udofa drove it home. Four minutes after that Jatly Jardine (Bloomfield Ridge, NB) regained the Tommies the lead. In the dying minutes of the contest UKC won a corner, that saw Layden equalize the game before the final whistle.

"We definitely dropped two points today," added Morrison. "We had them twice and we gave it back to them. Hopefully another learning lesson in the course of the season that when we get to the playoffs we have learned from our mistakes."

The Tommies will look to bounce back on the road against the UNBSJ Seawolves Friday night, while the Blue Devils will host the Holland College Hurricanes on Saturday.