Superior Performance For Men's Soccer In Thunder Bay
A 1-0 win over the Lakehead ThunderWolves secured a second-consecutive ThunderHawk Cup for CMU on Sunday afternoon at Chapples Park in Thunder Bay.
The four-year old event in late September brings together the two college and university programs in Northern Ontario (Confederation College and Lakehead University), CMU and the senior men's and women's champions from Thunder Bay. Lakehead captured top-prize in 2011, Rainbow Realty Senior Men's in 2012 and CMU in 2013 took the cup on a late goal in their final match to defeat the ThunderWolves.
The 2014 final saw CMU and Lakehead in a battle to win the tournament for a second-consecutive year. Fourth-year captain Simon Dueck's right-footed blast in the 26th minute was the only goal the Blazers would need to secure the championship. From there, though the ThunderWolves held the majority of possession, CMU showed once again that they can be very difficult to break down.
"This weekend was a huge defensive victory for us," said head coach Russell Willms, "we had excellent goalkeeping, solid communication, good organization... All things that will be important for us to continue this success into the second-half of our conference season."
Over three tournament matches in Thunder Bay, goalkeepers Evan Balzer and Thomas Friesen combined for 270 minutes of clean sheet soccer. The weekend also saw the return from injury of first-year defender Afonso Arrais, who along with fellow rookie Michael Veremu kept things neat and tidy at the back for the Blazers.
Men's Soccer returns to home field this Saturday afternoon to host the Providence Pilots in MCAC play at 3pm. The Blazers tasted victory by a score of 3-0 in their first meeting at Providence earlier this season and hope to continue their strong defensive play this weekend. Sunday will see the Blazers travel to Brandon to kick-off with the ACC Cougars at Shilo Air Force Base.
The CMU women will also be in action this weekend with matches against Providence and ACC. The Blazers host Providence at 1pm on Saturday and will play a critical match with major playoff implications on Sunday afternoon in Brandon.
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