Double zeros for soccer V-Reds too

    Memo to the other members of the Atlantic University Sport men's soccer conference: don't expect to get any easy goals against the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

In fact if the first four games of the season are any indication, don't expect to get any at all.

The Varsity Reds, who return the nucleus of a squad that lost in the conference final last year, improved to 2-0-2 on the season after playing Dalhousie to a 0-0 draw Saturday in the first David Harding Memorial Game, and downing the Saint Mary's Huskies 1-0 Sunday.

To date, they have allowed only one regular season goal.

"We are playing solid defensively. We have only given up one goal (against Mount Alison) in the four games and really that was a disaster on a number of levels, so I am pleased with the way things are going," said head coach Miles Pinsent.

"There is work to be done and we need to do a better job creating our chances, but all things considered were progressing well."

After being held off the score sheet for 90 minutes on Saturday, the Varsity Red's didn't need much time to break the scoring draught Sunday. In the 19th minute, midfielder Amir Razak was quite simply in the right place at the right time when Ken Morrison chipped a ball into the box and Razak redirected it into the bottom right corner of the net with a pretty header.

"I set Kenny (Morrison) a ball the last time (against UPEI) that was a goal and he said he'd set me one too, so he just gave me a great ball and all I had to do was head it into the goal," said Razak. "It was a great feeling."

After Razak's goal, the game settled into a midfield battle with neither team having much of a presence in the offensive zone. Aside from a hard shot from Razak late in the first half that required a diving save from the Saint Mary's keeper, neither team had any quality scoring chances until the midway through the second half.

That's when things got interesting.

In the 60th minute, Husky rookie Jhonattan Cordoba nearly tied it on a hard kick towards the bottom left corner of the net that UNB keeper Matt Lally somehow got in front of. Then, minutes later Cordoba found himself with a free kick from the top of the box that he fired towards the top right corner of the net. But Lally came up big again, tipping the ball just over the crossbar.

With the game clock ticking down and Saint Mary's continuing to control the ball, Lally came up with one last big play in injury time, grabbing an Ishraq Hassan free kick out of the air through heavy traffic to essentially seal the win.

"The last 10 minutes they were really coming at us and my back four were amazing," said Lally. "I mean we have had three clean sheets over the last four games and that has to tell you something. It's not all me."

For his efforts Lally, a fifth year player, was named player of the game.

"Matt has been tremendous for a number of years now and he seems to be playing with a much bigger presence and confidence back there lately and he has been really controlling his box and dominating the space in his area," said Pinsent. "That only bodes well for our back line."

UNB will travel to Nova Scotia next weekend for games Saturday against St. Francis Xavier University and Sunday against Cape Breton University.

In AUS women's soccer action Sunday, the UNB Varsity Reds didn't have the same luck as the men losing 1-0 to Saint Mary's. Kelly Burgess of the Huskies had the game's only goal. Maura Carter was named UNB's player of the game. The goal-challenged V-Reds were also blanked Saturday, losing 2-0 to Dalhousie as Kate MacDonald and Kim Herdy scored the goals past UNB goaltender Melissa Stapleton, who faced a total of 14 shots on goal. Olivia Jennings was UNB's player of the match in that contest