Carabins outlast Redmen in indoor quarterfinal playoff
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MONTREAL -- The Montreal Carabins took advanatge of a few miscues and defeated McGill 3-2 in an RSEQ indoor soccer sudden-death quarter-final, Sunday.
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A dozen seconds into the game, after a few unlucky bounces for McGill and a fortunate roll for Montreal, the Carabins took the lead 1-0. ÌýThe Redmen were a little stunned and took a few minutes to find their rhythm.
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"The team played well, respected the game plan and found a good
rhythm in the first half," said new McGill head coach Luis Valdes,
who took over the team on an interim basis in the wake of David
Simon stepping down after the outdoor season ended last
November."Despite the goal we allowed in the first and last minute
of the half, we clearly were the team in control of the
game."
The Redmen were able to create a few opportunities but could not
finish. ÌýThe Carabins appeared frustrated as they were
constantly chasing the ball and unable able to generate many
attacks with their direct style of play. ÌýThey pressured and
in the final minute of the opening half, took advantage of a
technical mistake to take a 2-0 lead.
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In the second half, the Carabins started to pressure McGill in their half a little bit more and forced a few turnovers early on. ÌýThe Redmen stuck with the game plan, looking to keep possession instead of simply sending the ball downfield.
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It finally paid off in the 60th minute when senior Jeremy Hurdle found the back of the net with his fisrt of two goals -- on a free-kick from 28 yards out -- to make the score 2-1.
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"The team got a clear lift in spirit at that moment and started pushing forward and pushed the Carabins defence deeper in their zone allowing us to play with a little less pressure on our side of the pitch," said Valdes.
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In the 72nd minute, UdeM broke free and managed to take a 3-1 lead, scoring on a header after a throw-in.
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The Redmen rallied again when Hurdle scored in the 87th minuteÌý to make it 3-2.
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"Jeremy scored two very good goals," said Valdes.Ìý "One off a free kick and the other during the play. ÌýMost importantly, both opportunities came after we moved the ball around quickly from side to side while attacking. ÌýIt destabilizes the opponent and create gaps for us to attack."
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The Carabins then decided it was too close for comfort and opted to kill the final three minutes by making seven separate substitutions.
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"I feel for the boys as they deserved a much better result today, but I am proud to see that improved dramaically over the indoor season and played two good games against the top teams from the outdoor fall season," said Valdes. "Losing our lastÌý two by only a goal is a promisig sign that we are close.
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"We are a young team, very different from the squad that played in the fall and we have not had the chance to work together on a full-sized field yet.Ìý Despite that, we still managed to maintain possession for the better part of the game while limiting the chances from our opponents."
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Starting line-up:
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GK - Chase Kelly - 1st year
LB - James Allester - 2nd year
CB - Alexis Pradie - T3rd year
CB - Zach Aylward - 1st season
RB - Patrick Bennett - 1st year
DM - Jeremy Hurdle - 4th year
DM - William Hoyle - 2nd year
OM - Marc Palaci - 1st season
LW - Vincent Ye - 1st season
ST - Winston Pool - 1st year
RW - Nicolas Gonzalez - 2nd year
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