With trip to Nationals at stake,Laval beats McGill

Perhaps it was because starting defender Graeme Tingey was suspended for the game, having drawn a red card in last week's game against Concordia. Perhaps it was because the home field advantage was nullified by a Laval-partisan crowd. Or perhaps it was because it was Halloween. Whatever the reason, an ominous aura hung over Molson Stadium on Friday night and the Redmen couldn't overcome it. The seventh-ranked men's soccer team was upset by the Laval Rouge et Or in a Quebec semifinal by a score of 3-1.

Recent history had favoured the Redmen, who had surprised many by finishing second in the Quebec league at 7-1-4. McGill outscored Laval 3-0 in two wins during the regular season, and won both games on the strength of their defence. But the playoff pressure, combined with Tingey's absence, yielded a different outcome.

"We weren't good enough for the playoffs," said McGill goalkeeper Olivier Boulva, one of only a few Redmen who played all 90 minutes. "They outplayed us. They played a great first half, and we didn't show up like we should have."

One great half was all Laval needed. First-year midfielder Julien Priol matched his output for the entire season, scoring three times in the first half, and sending the shocked Redmen into the locker room at halftime down 3-0.

In the 10th minute of play, Priol scored his first highlight reel goal, after taking a long pass just past midfield. As the Redmen defencemen pleaded for offsides, Priol pulled away, and with a convincing stutter-step, caused Boulva to dive to his left, leaving a wide-open goal for the freshman. 10 minutes later, forward Gabriel Moreau flicked the ball to a streaking Priol, who didn't have to work hard to maneuver to find some free space to shoot the ball past a scrambling Boulva. The Redmen once again were caught off-guard with their hands raised, begging for an offsides call. The linesmen never came to their rescue.

"Our defence didn't play well at all," said McGill Head Coach Philippe Eullaffroy, who earlier in the week was named Quebec Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season. "There was miscommunication, or no communication at all. … Laval communicated much better than we did, and they deserved to win. There is a difference between willing to win and showing that you want to win. And that was the difference between the two teams."

Being named Coach of the Year did not provide Eullaffroy with much solace.

"I'm doing this job in order to win games," said Eullaffroy. "Coach of the Year does not give me a victory. I would easily switch my Coach of the Year title for a win tonight."

Priol added his third goal one minute before the end of the half, and all hope seemed lost for the Redmen. Every time they attempted a long pass, the Rouge et Or would either intercept or redirect the ball, stifling McGill's attack. As a result, the Redmen had few scoring opportunities in the first half.

But the second half proved different. Eullaffroy removed most of his starters as the half progressed, and the difference in energy showed. Twenty-five minutes into the half, the Rouge et Or defenders were caught napping-the ball skipped towards the middle of the box, and Laval goaltender Vincent Cournoyer could not recover in time to stop forward Peter Valente's shot. Despite firing from point-blank range, Valente, who had subbed in at halftime, sent the ball sailing over the goal. Forward Michael Stein, a normally sure-footed freshman who shared the team lead with four goals on the season, missed a similar opportunity 10 minutes later.

"We missed a couple of chances to get back in the game in the second half, and we could have changed the game, but we weren't the same team that had played the whole season," said midfielder Shawn Amarasekera. "I knew it was going to be tough, down 3-0, but … even at the end, I really believed that we could have done something. We had a really fighting spirit throughout the season. We just missed our chances [tonight]."

The Redmen kept the pressure on despite their missed opportunities, and got a penalty kick when Laval was called for a hand-ball in the box. Midfielder James Scholefield converted the penalty kick with seven minutes to play. The clock wound down, however, and the Redmen were left stunned when the final whistle blew.

"All season, we've done the same thing. We were solid at the back. For some reason, in the first half, it just wasn't there," said Amarasekera. "You win some, you lose some. That's soccer. That's life."

Though it certainly didn't take the sting of watching from the stands away from Tingey, whose presence was sorely missed, the sophomore was named to the All-Conference first team, along with Scholefield and midfielder Thomas Lucas. Boulva was named to the second team, along with midfielders Yohann Capolungo and Axel Dovi.

"We'll grow from it," said Boulva, who is in his last year along with Scholefield, Amarasekera, defender Omar John, and forward Gareth Pugh. "It's a great bunch of rookies, and they learned from it. We've built up a great program for years to come."