Men’s Soccer
Christopher Campoli named U SPORTS men’s soccer player of the year
KAMLOOPS — All-Canadians Quentin Paumier and Thierry Côté led the line for the defending national champion Montréal Carabins, in a 3-0 win over the STFX X-Men in the opening quarter-final match of the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Soccer Championship presented by RBC in Kamloops.
Paumier opened the scoring in the sixth minute of play. The First Team All-Canadian placed a curling freekick from 30 yards out past the outstretched arms of Samuel Diltz into the top left corner.
Diltz, a first-year goalkeeper, made seven saves in a losing cause for the X-Men including multiple point-blank saves in the second half to keep the score line close.
STFX had their best chance to level the score in the 20th minute when Cameron Shaw was slipped through into the 18-yard box but Jordan Tisseur in the Carabins net was equal to the task.
Montréal almost found a second goal in the 63rd minute but Diltz came up big with a trio of saves.
The Carabins would manage to put a second goal behind Diltz minutes later off the boot of Côté as he tucked in the rebound off Paumier freekick that struck the crossbar.
Montreal put the game out of reach in the 78th minute. Substitute Salim Eliasy found the third goal for the Carabins after receiving an unselfish pass at the top of the six-yard box from Lohan Lefevre.
With the win, Montréal advances to the national semi-final game at 5 p.m. PT/ 2 p.m. ET Friday and will face the winner of the second quarterfinal between the Canada West champion, UBC Thunderbirds, and the OUA finalists, TMU Bold. The X-Men move to the consolation semi-final tomorrow at 11 a.m. PT/ 8 a.m. ET.
Nike Top Performers
- Montreal: Quentin Paumier
- STFX: Samuel Diltz