TORONTO - Veteran striker Alexander Raphael scored three goals to lead the host University of Toronto Varsity Blues to a 5-0 victory over the UQAM Citadins in the fourth quarter-final of the day at the 2010 CIS men’s soccer championship at Varsity Centre on Thursday night.
The Blues, who won their lone national title in 1988, advance to the championship semifinal and will take on the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday at 2 p.m. UBC defeated the Western Mustangs in penalty kicks in quarter-final action earlier in the day.
The Citadins will face the Mustangs in a consolation semifinal on Friday at 4 p.m.
“Everyone that got on the pitch tonight did their job, performed well and followed the game plan to a T,” said Varsity Blues head coach Anthony Capotosto. “We’ve been looking forward to this game for a year. We knew we’d be playing in this game and the atmosphere was electric.”
It only took nine minutes for the hometown Blues to open the scoring. Nordo Gooden of Kingston, Jamaica sent a long cross to the other side of the 18-yard box, where fellow striker Alexander Raphael was in perfect position to head the ball past a leaping Citadins goalkeeper Raphael Schott.
Gooden didn’t stop there. The 2010 CIS all-Canadian trekked down the right side of the field and cleverly looped the ball over the Citadins defensive line. Third-year midfielder Geoffrey Borgmann of Mississauga, Ont., caught the ball on the bounce and ripped it into the back of the net to give U of T a 2-0 lead in the 29th minute.
The Citadins rallied with two opportunities on a free kick and corner kick; however, U of T’s defensive corps and goalkeeper John Smits was there to deny anything that came their way.
UQAM came out hungry in the second half and almost broke the shut out in the 60th minute. First-year midfielder Nicolas Bertrand of Montreal found himself all alone in front of Toronto’s net but his booming shot was denied by Smits of Mississauga, Ont.
Borgmann went on to return the favour in the 67th minute, sending a ball through to Gooden, who slipped it past Schott for his first goal and third point of the night.
Less than three minutes later, rookie midfielder Ezequiel Lubocki was taken down in the 18-yard box, resulting in a penalty kick in favour of the Blues. Raphael stepped up and made no mistake, sending a clear shot into the top left corner of the net.
Raphael rounded out the hattrick performance in the 79th minute, heading a Lubocki pass over the keeper to hit the cross bar and land in the net.
“I’m happy with my performance, but it was definitely a team effort,” said Raphael. “We let up a little bit defensively in the second half, but our coach had told us to go in for the third so we brought it to them.”
SCORING SUMMARY
TOR: 2-3:5
UQAM: 0-0:0
First Half
1. TOR Alexander Raphael (1) 9th
2. TOR Geoffrey Borgmann (1) 29th
Second Half
2. TOR Nordo Gooden (1) 67th
3. TOR Alexander Raphael (2) 70th
4. TOR Alexander Raphael (3) 79th
Goalkeepers:
TOR: John Smits (W, 0 GA, 3 saves, 90:00 mins)
TOR: Raphael Schott (L, 5 GA, 0 saves, 90:00 mins)
Shots: TOR 10, UQAM 4
Shots on Net: TOR 5, UQAM 3
Corners: TOR 4, UQAM 3
Offsides: TOR 2, UQAM 1
Fouls: TOR 13, UQAM 15
Yellow Cards: TOR (Dylan Bams, Mario Kovacevic), UQAM (Nicolas Bertrand, Andrea Romanelli, Maxime Pharand)
Red Cards: none
Players of the game:
TOR: Alexander Raphael
UQAM: Manuel Chaffort
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
For all the info on the championship: www.cis-sic.ca.
Thursday, Nov. 11
11:00 Quarterfinal 1: York 3, Laval 2 (4-2 PK)
13:30 Quarterfinal 2: Saint Mary’s 1, Alberta 0
16:00 Quarterfinal 3: UBC 3, Western 2 (4-2 PK)
18:30 Quarterfinal 4: Toronto 5, UQAM 0
Friday, Nov. 12
13:30 Consolation 1: Laval vs. Alberta (SSN Canada webcast)
16:00 Consolation 2: Western vs. UQAM (SSN Canada webcast)
Saturday, Nov. 13
11:00 Semi-final 1: York vs. Saint Mary’s (SSN Canada webcast)
14:00 Semi-final 2: UBC vs. Toronto (SSN Canada webcast)
16:30 Consolation final (SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, Nov. 14
13:00 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
16:00 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
-CIS-
For more information contact:
Mary Beth Challoner
Manager, Events & Marketing
University of Toronto
Off: (416) 946-5131
Cell: (416) 407-3538
mb.challoner@utoronto.ca
Jill Clark
Coordinator, Sports Information
University of Toronto
Off: (416) 978-4263
Cell: (416) 938-1629
jill.clark@utoronto.ca
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca
