NANAIMO, B.C. - Back in the national spotlight, Durham College fell 4-0 to the NAIT Ooks in their first appearance at a CCAA men's soccer championship since 1999.
It was a tough start for the Lords as Nicholas Axhorn (Pickering) went down in the first minutes of the match and had to be substituted out. They struggled to get their footing after Axhorn left, but settled in after allowing some great chances by the Ooks.
Specifically, Dylan Yeo (Newmarket) had to make some game-changing stops in the 20th and 25th minutes to keep the game knotted 0-0 and allow the Lords to push back.
In the 29th minute Jeremy Bangala (Pickering) had his header tipped by the Ooks keeper and off the crossbar, the best chance for Durham College up until the point in the match.
A second Lord left the game before the half as Robert Baxter-Dennis (Scarborough) went down, leaving Durham without two of their backline players.
NAIT capitalized, with Zach Kaiser opening the scoring in added time, to take a 1-0 Ooks lead into half.
"It was tough losing Nick early because we talked about how he could neutralize their big striker," said Durham Lords head coach Dave Ashfield. "Losing him early got us on the back foot, but I thought we settled in well before losing another defender (Baxter-Dennis) before half. Giving up a late goal at the first half whistle had our guys down coming into halftime, but we started well and had some good chances."
Those good chances came in the opening minutes before Ali Musse scored his first of the match on a penalty-kick in the 50th minute, putting the ball to the left side of the goal, with Yeo guessing wrong on the opportunity.
Musse scored again quickly in the 56th minute and eventually capped off his hat trick in the 63rd minute.
"We got down after the penalty and they capitalized with another quick one, but thought we had some good chances after that - we just couldn't break through," said Ashfield. "Despite the score as a coaching staff we're proud that the guys worked hard regardless of the changes we had to make on the field in the first half and the adjustments we made. After the match, they held their heads up and are ready to work hard starting again tomorrow in the bronze medal bracket after taking the night off to relax and refocus."
This was Durham's first game at the national championship since November 13, 1999, a 1-0 victory over Dawson College to win a CCAA bronze medal in Oshawa. The Lords quest to get back on the podium resumes on Thursday, as Durham will play at 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 Eastern) against VIU Mariners /Ahuntsic Indiens, the loser of Wednesday night's quarter-final.
Earlier on, the Keyano Huskies opened the championship with a 2-0 victory over the Holland Hurricanes, before the Douglas Royals defeated the Algonquin Thunder in penalty kicks.
Source: Durham College