With Sherbrooke having prevented the Redmen from reaching the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, it’s not difficult to imagine why this meeting was such a scrappy affair. And while it won’t erase the memories of post-season dreams dashed, McGill managed to exact a little revenge by edging out a 2-1 victory at Molson Stadium.
Despite sloppy play which resulted in a slew of giveaways and four yellow cards, the Redmen managed to eke out a narrow victory on Friday night. McGill dominated play throughout but struggled to bury its chances, needing an own goal by Sherbrooke defender Charles-David Racine to earn the win.
“I know, and the players know, that we can do a lot better than that,” said Head Coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “In terms of quality, it was a little bit disappointing-but we won, and that’s the most important thing. It’s very promising because we won while not playing very well.”
McGill opened the scoring in the 43rd minute when midfielder Alec Milne tapped in a deflection from inside the six yard box. The setup came off a corner which was flicked on by midfielder Olivier Brett through a crowd of defenders to a wide open Milne.
Vert et Or goaltender Elie Saint-Laurent was kept busy all night stopping six shots en route to earning himself player of the match honours. Despite being peppered early and often, Saint-Laurent managed to keep his team alive with big first half stops, especially off the foot of Shawn Amarasekera who found himself frustrated on two golden opportunities.
The Redmen would finally break through again in the 56th minute as striker James Scholefield took a throw-in and banked a low pass off Vert & Or defender Charles-David Racine into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Redmen take foot off the gas too earlyFrom there, McGill seemed to let up a bit, and almost allowed Sherbrooke to get back into the match. Despite rarely threatening the Redmen net, the Vert et Or almost scored a lucky goal in the 59th minute after McGill carelessly gave away possession in their own third. Defender Dominik Desbois was forced to clear the goal line with an impressive header.
Sherbrooke also took advantage of some complacent defending, playing a few solid through balls and using their speed in the latter part of the second half. Most notably in the 72nd minute, when substitute Guilhelm Couderc sprinted past the Redmen backline, forcing keeper Olivier Boulva to race out of the penalty area to save a loose ball.
Sherbrooke would finally get on the board in injury time on a goal from Adrien Durand but it would be too little too late.
“Our focus is an area we need to work on,” captain Daniel Jones said. “We need to maintain our focus for 90 minutes.”
In spite of fielding a very defensive 4-6-0 formation, the Redmen struggled in their own end, as poor positioning opened up gaps for Sherbrooke. McGill will need to work on playing in their own end if they hope to be competitive in tough upcoming fixtures against Concordia and Laval.
