Men's soccer heads to the playoffs

William Lou

The Silhouette

The generica viagra McMaster Men’s Soccer Team qualified for the OUA playoffs after securing the second seed in the OUA West division with a win and a draw over the Brock Badgers and the Laurier Golden Hawks.

The Marauders took on the Badgers last Saturday under rather miserable weather conditions. In addition to light rain and gusting winds, temperatures dipped below 10 degrees, resulting in rather sloppy play at times. The Badgers, having already been eliminated from the playoffs, looked to retain a modicum of dignity against the vastly favored Marauders who looked to clinch the second seed with a win.

However it was simply not to be for the Brock Badgers. In an effort to secure the win, coach Dino Perri trotted out his best starting eleven, and his team dominated both the possession and the score. Co-Captain Paterson Farrell opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Gersi Xhuti scored his team-leading 7th goal of the season in the 37th minute.

The Marauders got off to a tumultuous start in the second half. McMaster went down to 10 men, thus conceding some possession to Brock, but the Badgers failed to capitalize. McMaster tacked on two more goals on a corner kick by Ryan Garnett and a great run by Nate Morris in the 65th and 87th minute. The match ended 4-0 in favor of the Marauders. The win clinched the second seed for McMaster and earned them a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

However, the match did come with a cost. Xhuti received a straight red card at the start of the second half for kicking Brock’s Erik Van Wissen. As Xhuti went to retrieve a ball that had gone out of bounds, Van Wissen slid in for a late challenge and struck Xhuti in the leg. Xhuti took exception to the challenged and retaliated with a swift kick in the calf, which earned him a straight red card and a one-game suspension.

After the game, coach Dino Perri commented on Xhuti’s reaction, saying that “[Gersi] was probably a little frustrated that he got kicked and he reacted incorrectly” and that the two would “have a chat” about the incident.

Perri also said that he’s “happy with the way that they played and with the way they handled themselves after going down to 10 men for the half.”

He also spoke about securing the second seed.

“First place is nice, but first or second is the same thing because you’re playing at home unless there’s a team that is vastly better on one side, which I don’t think there is.”

The following day, the Marauders traveled to Waterloo to take on the Laurier Golden Hawks. Having secured the second seed, and with no prospect of improving their conditions, coach Perri decided to rest his starting lineup and give his substitutes some run. The Golden Hawks were desperate to earn the win to secure home field advantage for the first game of the playoffs but despite issuing nine shots on goal to McMaster’s three, the match ended 0-0.

The Marauders ended the regular season with three straight shutouts en route to an overall record of 11 wins, two losses and three draws, finishing second in the OUA West and third overall in the OUA conference to Ryerson and York. They will have a first-round bye and they will host an OUA division semifinal match on Sunday, Oct. 27, at Ron Joyce Stadium. That opponent is to be determined after the quarterfinals.