The men’s soccer team was back in action on Thursday after an 11-day break. The team traveled to neighbouring McGill University to take on the Redmen. After a 1-1 draw earlier in the season, the Stingers were looking to upset their higher ranked rivals.
For this derby match, Concordia lined up in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. Andrew Bryan was the lone man upfront with Fabian Troche, Eduardo Mazzonna, Gonzalo Paredes, Joseph Couto and Sammy Tork completing the midfield. Jayson Gallahue, Christopher Mirasyedi, Ramin Mohsenin and Enos Osei were the back four. Remo Taraschi was in goal.
The cold evening match at Percival-Molson Stadium started off slow. Both sides were able to make their way down the pitch, but could not create a worthwhile chance.
In the 26th minute, the visiting Stingers took a surprise lead. Troche played a perfect through ball to Bryan who made his run between two McGill defenders. With only the keeper to beat, Bryan made no mistake blasting home his third goal of the season.
The Stingers striker was at it again 10 minutes later. This time, Bryan’s shot from inside the box forced a good save out of McGill goalkeeper Max Leblond.
The Redmen would manage to tie up the match. Two minutes before the halftime break, Henri Ashe-Taylor finished a low cross from teammate Vincent Ye. Ashe-Talyor’s shot from atop the 18-yard box took a deflection before going in.
The Stingers fell apart in the second half. In the 69th minute, McGill took the lead on an absolute world-class strike from around 25-yards out. Redmen Jeremy Hurdle received a pass on the left side of the pitch, turned quickly and almost blindly laced the ball perfectly over Taraschi and into the top right corner. The wonder-goal was goal-of-the-season worthy.
Upon regaining possession seconds after the ensuing kickoff, McGill added to their lead with a shot from a similar distance. Winston Pool saw an opening and hit a bouncing shot at Taraschi. The Stingers goalkeeper was unable to handle the ball struck right at him.
The goalkeeping blunder wouldn’t mean much as Concordia was unable to score another goal. In the 88th minute, the Redmen scored a header off a corner kick.
Stingers leading scorer Bryan would end up getting a red card one minute later for pushing McGill’s Marc Palaci-Olgun to the turf. He will miss this Sunday’s match.
“They got totally undisciplined,” said Stingers head coach Lloyd Barker referring to his team’s overall performance. “They basically forgot everything we spoke about and they go back to their old ways. They tried to do things on their own and that never works. The very moment things aren’t in our favour, they go back to their old habits.”
The 4-1 loss leaves Concordia in last place in the league. With four matches to go, the maroon and gold are five points outside the playoffs.
“From a points standpoint, we saw this as a must-win,” said Barker. “We spoke about leaving here with three points. It goes without saying that we are disappointed.”
Concordia is back in action on Sunday. They return home to host the defending champions Montreal Carabins. U de M blanked the Stingers 5-0 in the first match of the season. Kick off at Concordia Stadium is at 1 p.m.
