McGill Edges McMaster in Penalty-Kick Thriller to Advance to CIS Semifinals

LANGLEY, BC - Forward Michael Stein came off the bench to score the decisive marker in a wild 10-9 penalty-kick shootout as McGill hung on for a 1-0 victory over McMaster in a sudden-death quarter-final at the CIS men's soccer championship tournament in Langley, B.C., Thursday

The Quebec finalist Redmen advance to Friday's evening's semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Pacific against host Trinity Western University, which won their opening round match-up 2-0 over the Cape Breton Capers.

With the Redmen leading 10-9, McGill goalkeeper Jean-Lou Gosselin of Longueuil, Que., made the only save of the penalty-kick session, diving high to his right and batting the ball out of harm's way with both fists to thwart a shot by Chris Succi of Ancaster, Ont., and preserve the victory.

"When you get to penalties, it is just a mental thing," said first-year McGill head coach David Simon. "The game was cautious right from the start. It was a typical first game at Nationals, no one wanted to let a goal in early in the game."

The teams battled through 120 scoreless minutes to force the shootout. McGill connected on all 10 attempts on Marauder 'keeper Matt Grant, getting goals from Sami Obaid, Graeme Tingey, Peter Valente, Louis Fouquet, Jeremy Hurdle, Thomas Lucas, Ryan Lauzon, Axel Dovi and Marc-Andre Maillet before Stein calmly addressed the ball and fired what proved to be the winning marker on a drive to the right side as Grant guessed wrong and dove the other way.

"Our coach kept saying throughout the game 'Believe guys believe'," explained Stein, a 20-year-old biomedical science junior from Toronto. "We played hard, we believed and we won. We're very happy."

The Marauders kept pace with McGill, scoring on their first nine attempts, with goals from Anthony Costa, Monkgogi Moseki, Omar Nakeeb, Marc Reilly, Matt Scudetto, Kyle Grootenboer, Aaron Boothe, Rob Schlosser and Andre Pastoric.

It put a sudden end to the hopes for a Cinderella-type season that McMaster, the OUA champions, had been having, after winning four straight post-season contests in a PK shootout en route to their first conference title since 1992. Relegated to the consolation round, McMaster will play at 1 p.m. on Friday aginst Cape Breton.

SCORING SUMMARY

McGill: 0-0-0-0-10 --1

McMaster: 0-0-0-0-9 -- 0

First Half

(no scoring)

Second Half

(no scoring)

Overtime (2 x 15 mins: no golden goal)

(no scoring)

Penalty-kick Shootout

McGill: Sami Obaid, scored
McMaster: Anthony Costa, scored
McGill: Graeme Tingey, scored
McMaster: Monkgogi Moseki, scored
McGill: Peter Valente, scored
McMaster: Omar Nakeeb, scored
McGill: Louis Fouquet, scored
McMaster: Marc Reilly, scored
McGill: Jeremy Hurdle, scored
McMaster: Matt Scudetto, scored
McGill: Thomas Lucas, scored
McMaster: Kyle Grootenboer, scored
McGill: Ryan Lauzon, scored
McMaster: Aaron Boothe, scored
McGill: Axel Dovi, scored
McMaster: Rob Schlosser, scored
McGill: Marc-Andre Maillet, scored
McMaster: Andre Pastoric, scored
McGill: Michael Stein, scored
McMaster: Chris Succi, saved by Jean-Lou Gosselin

Goalkeepers:

McGill: Jean-Lou Gosselin (W, 0 GA, 0 saves, SHO, 120:00 mins)

McMaster: Matt Grant (L, 0 GA, 4 saves, 120:00 mins)

Game Statistics

Shots attempted: McGill 10, McMaster 3

Shots on Net: McGill 4, McMaster 0

Corners: McGill 4, McMaster 3

Offsides: McGill 2, McMaster 1

Fouls: McGill 12, McMaster 16

Yellow Cards: McGill 3 (Cory Marcon 42nd, Graeme Tingey 90th, Ryan Lauzon 115th), McMaster 4 (Aaron Boothe 66th, Steven DiPietro 83rd, Khalil Rajan 95th, Matt Scudetto 100th)

Red Cards: none

Players of the game:

McGill: Ryan Lauzon

McMaster: Matt Grant

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times PACIFIC TIME)

Thursday, Nov. 12

Quarter-final 1: Laval 3, UPEI 1
Quarter-final 2: Toronto 2, Victoria 1
Quarter-final 3: McGill 1, McMaster 0 (10-9 PK)
Quarter-final 4: Trinity Western 2, Cape Breton 0

Friday, Nov. 13

10:30 Consolation 1: UPEI vs. Victoria
13:00 Consolation 2: McMaster vs. Cape Breton
16:00 Semifinal 1: Laval vs. Winner QF 2 (SSN Canada webcast)
18:30 Semifinal 2: McGill vs. Trinity Western (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, Nov. 14

13:00 Consolation final (5th-place match)

Sunday, Nov. 15

13:00 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
15:30 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)