MONTREAL – It was a bittersweet day for the McGill men's soccer program.
Philippe Hudon-McGee and
Thomas Saint-Maurice scored as Laval clinched third place with a 2-0 victory in the RSEQ season finale at Percival Molson Stadium, Sunday.
A McGill victory would have created a four-way tie for the last two playoff spots and the men in red had the tie-breaker in their back pocket. But the setback effectively ended all that and McGill was eliminated from post-season contention for the first time since 2016.
On the bight side,
Mehdi Ibn-Brahim, one of three graduating McGill seniors honoured in a pre-game ceremony, became the team's first player to capture the conference goal-scoring title since
Massimo Di Ioia in 2013.
Ibn-Brahim, a 24-year-old mathematics major born in Casablanca and raised in Laval, Que., tallied eight goals in 10 games to edge out UQTR forward
Felix Bouchard, who had the same goal total but played one more game.
The 5-foot-7, 160-pound striker, was held off the scoresheet on this day but concluded a brilliant varsity career at McGill with 24 regular season goals over his four years.
Laval ended McGill's season within a 12-minute window in the second half. Hudon-McGee struck three minutes into the stanza and Saint-Maurice doubled the lead in the 60th minute.
McGill had a 12-4 edge in attempted shots but failed to direct any of them on goal.
Goalkeeper
Chris Cinelli-Faia, a physical education sophomore from Dollard des Ormeaux, Que., allowed goals on both shots faced and was saddled with the loss. At the other end of the pitch,
Horace Patient-Sobze-Zemo earned the win with a four-save shutout.
The team's other graduating vets are both political science seniors, namely goalkeeper
Theo Farineau, a native of France and forward
Michael Makepeace, who hails from the United Kingdom.
2019 RSEQ MEN'S UNIVERSITY SOCCER FINAL STANDINGS
(12-game reg. season; Top teams qualify for playoffs)
x-failed to qualify for post-season
2019 RSEQ MEN'S SOCCER GOAL-SCORING LEADERS (final)
(NOTE: Ties are broken by fewest games played, then by having more assists)
| Nom |
Équipe |
| Ibn Brahim, Mehdi |
McGill |
9 |
11 |
8 |
1 |
9 |
| Bouchard, Félix |
UQTR |
17 |
12 |
8 |
|
8 |
| Essomé Penda, Guy-Frank |
Montréal |
0 |
11 |
7 |
3 |
10 |
| Boucher, Maxime |
UQTR |
2 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
10 |
| Ouzane, Mouad |
Montréal |
0 |
12 |
5 |
|
5 |
| Saidi, Mohamed |
UQAM |
10 |
10 |
5 |
2 |
7 |
| Joly, Charles |
Laval |
0 |
8 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
| Saheb, Dalin |
McGill |
10 |
10 |
5 |
2 |
7 |
| Spénard-Lapierre, Simon |
Concordia |
0 |
9 |
4 |
|
4 |
| Chambon, Hugo |
Montréal |
0 |
10 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
| Belguendouz, Sitayeb |
UQAM |
8 |
10 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
| Levesque, Jean-Philippe |
Laval |
0 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| More-Chevalier, Basil |
Montréal |
0 |
11 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
| Yelle, Alexis |
Sherbrooke |
7 |
12 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| Artaillou, Corentin |
UQTR |
21 |
9 |
3 |
|
3 |
| Boulajoul, Badreddine |
UQAM |
7 |
8 |
3 |
|
3 |
| Correa, Alberto |
Concordia |
0 |
12 |
2 |
|
2 |
| Fotso Nono, Francis |
UQAM |
9 |
12 |
2 |
|
2 |
| Jarras, Heikel |
Laval |
0 |
10 |
2 |
|
2 |
| Chaouki, Wassim |
Laval |
0 |
12 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
