The U of S men’s team beat Winnipeg 5–1 and will now play in the Canada West semifinals.

It was a dominant afternoon for the men’s soccer team as they defeated the University of Winnipeg Wesmen by a score of 5–1 to advance to the Canada West Final Four.

Canada West’s leading scorer Brett Levis had two key goals to help lift the Dogs to their third straight Final Four appearance. Thanks to their impressive 9–1–2 record in the regular season, the Huskies have earned the right to host this year’s Canada West championships, where they will be joined by the University of Alberta Golden Bears, the University of Victoria Vikes and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

In their victory over the Wesmen on Oct. 26, the Huskies dominated ball possession for the majority of the first half. They would get a few good looks but Winnipeg keeper Joshua Partaker turned away all shots he faced. However, Garrett Peters would draw first blood when he buried home a header off a corner kick in the 39th minute. The score would remain 1–0 at the half, but the Huskies controlled the play and had many more scoring chances.

The most dangerous offence in the conference — scoring 44 goals in 12 games — the Huskies would get it going in the second half with four goals in the final 45 minutes.

In the 59th minute Bobbi Nicholat would extend the lead and then in the 74th Levis made it a 3–0 game. However, just a minute later, Winnipeg’s Richard Rundle would find some open space and fire a quick shot past goalkeeper Michal Bandula. That would be as close as the Wesmen would get though as Levis would add his second of the game in the 81st minute and all but sealed the Huskies victory. Rookie Sam Whiting would record his first CIS goal in the 90th minute to make the final 5–1 for the home side.

The Huskies outshot the Wesmen 30–5 and Partaker was excellent in the losing effort, making 15 saves throughout the entire game. Bandula made two saves for the Dogs but will be tested more and more from here on out.

Now looking ahead to the conference championships, the Dogs need a win in their semifinal match to qualify for the CIS national championships, with a loss their season comes to an end. Their opponent will be the Victoria Vikes, who finished second place in the Pacific Division. In the other semifinal, the Alberta Golden Bears will take on the UBC Thunderbirds. The two winners will both qualify for nationals, but then will face-off for the Canada West crown.

The Vikes finished the regular season with a 8–1–3 record but only allowed 11 goals in 12 games. Victoria advanced after a thrilling quarter-final victory over the University of Fraser Valley in which Cameron Stokes scored the winner in the 90th minute. Stokes was second in conference scoring with eight goals, trailing only Levis who had nine.

The game will certainly come down to the high-flying Huskies offensive attack versus the stingy Victoria defence and goaltending. Levis, David Brown and Luigi Bekwayo will be leaned on to spark the offensive attack against a Vikes defence that has been superb all season long.

Stokes accounted for one third of the Vikes’ goals scored this year, so shutting him down will also be a priority. The experienced back line of the Dogs, led by fifth-year captain Jordian Farahani, should be up to the task of taking on Stokes and the rest of his teammates.

The Huskies will put their season on the line at home on Oct. 31. Their match versus the Victoria Vikes will take place at 2 p.m. at Field 7 in PotashCorp Park.

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Photo: Serena Liu