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Huskies to play for Gold after defeating Blues 3-1

The Keyano Huskies taking on the Capilano Blues in the CCAA mens soccer National Championship at Shell Place. November 10, 2016/Taylor Pope/Rogers Media

The Keyano Huskies men’s soccer team are headed to the gold medal game of the CCAA National Championship after defeating the Capilano Blues 3-1 in Thursday’s semi-final.

“Proud of these guys, proud of our city, proud of our college. We’ve come a long way,” said an emotional Huskies head coach Connor Brady after the game. “They refused to quit and refused to give up on each other so that is an example of what this team can do and how much of a unit we are.”

The Huskies came into the game after a thrilling 3-2 win in the quarter final against the Douglas Royals while the Blues walked over Holland 4-0 in their quarter final match up.

A tight game between the second and third ranked teams was finally broken open after a miscue by the Blues. In the 33rd minute a Blues defender tried to head the ball back to his goalkeeper only to have it sail past him and roll into the open net.

The Huskies would add to their lead in the 62nd minute off a throw in from Teathcoach Guet. The ball bounced off a couple players in the box and eventually found Ayman Hassen who scored his second goal of the championship to make it 2-0.

“We’re a family, some of us have been here five years and this is the furthest we’ve came and we’re going to the finals. One more to go,” said Ayman Hassen who has scored the game winning goal in back to back games.

The Blues continued to press and would get on the board from the penalty spot in the 75th minute as Nicolas Morello beat a diving Steven Bohrson.

Bohrson was named the Huskies player of the game and helped preserve the lead making several big saves in the final minutes.

The Huskies would put the game away in the 88th minute after a breath taking run from Francis Kailondo. The midfielder danced around several defenders before feeding a pass across the box to Rodrigo Wogel-Koebsch.

“It was only a matter of time before we breakout. We’ve got speed and talent and weapons upon weapons and it’s only a matter of time before one of them breaks out and makes something happen for us,” said Brady on the run by Kailondo.

The Huskies will now take on the number one ranked Humber Hawks in Saturday’s final. The Hawks thumped Algonquin 8-0 in their semi-final. Despite a tough match-up with the defending goal medal champs, Brady is confident heading into the final.

“As of right now we feel like anyone is beatable and we feel like if we put in the work then we can beat anybody,” said Brady.

Kickoff for the gold medal game is set for 4:30p.m. on Saturday at Shell Place.

Tickets for this game are also still available at the Shell Place box office or online at www.rrcwb.ca/tickets.

For more details, visit www.ccaa.ca/soccer