LANGLEY, BC - After an opening round upset, the UVic Vikes men's soccer team salvaged a 5th place finish at the CIS Championship with a 3-2 victory over the Cape Breton Capers.
The Vikes scored three times in the second half to defeat the Atlantic conference champs and win the consolation final.
William Gye scored in the 63rd minute,
Sam Wingham struck in the 74th, and
Josh Leins scored his first of the season in the 83rd.
"Full credit to the team because they battled back from the loss to Toronto and showed they are a top team," said head coach
Bruce Wilson. "In all honesty we played well in all three games, but we had a bad first half against Toronto and we paid for it."
Leins, a second-year defender from Kelowna, had a hand in both the game-tying and game-winning goals. Leins setup Wingham's goal with a centering pass, which drew the game even 2-2, then pocketed the game-winner after burying a loose ball in front of the goal.
The Vikes were forced to come-from-behind for a second consecutive day as Keishen Bean put Cape Breton on the board in the 23rd minute. In the consolation semi-final, the Vikes overcame an early deficit to defeat the UPEI Panthers 6-2.
Shots were 15-8 in favour of the Vikes, whose significant offensive pressure finally broke the Capers netminder in the second half.
Although the Vikes 2009 CIS Championship was sullied by a first-round 2-1 loss to Toronto, UVic rebounded with back-to-back wins and ended the season as winners of seven of their last eight games. Additionally, their six goals against UPEI tied a CIS Championship record.