The Cape Breton Capers survived a late comeback to advance out of the semi-finals yesterday, beating UdeM 4-3.
The Capers wasted little time in going ahead, with Gregg Whitting banging a Shayne Hollis cross into the net just over a minute in, as Moncton were a little late arriving mentally to the game.
Then in the fourth minute, Andrew Rigby slid in a shot to double the Caper lead.
Despite reeling early, the Moncton team rallied and pressured the Capers for the rest of the seocnd half, improving their attack considerably.
That didn’t stop Cape Breton from scoring again, with Sylvain Rajkovic scoring off a free kick from near the left touch line.
Then refereeing controversy hit as Shauna Poirier missed a handball call as Mirza Mehic controlled a ball with his arm before smashing a shot past Arnaud St. Jacques-Gagnon, making it 4-0.
The Aigles-Bleu made things interesting, and nearly pulled off another upset, scoring three goals in the second half.
First Mathieu Sonier scored in the 59th, then Jeremie Chiasson in the 68th.
In the 73rd minute, Simpara Bourama corralled a ball pinging around the CBU area and rolled it under Chris Tournidis for the goal.
That was all they could muster, and Cape Breton advanced, thanks in part to Poirier’s awful missed call on Mehic’s goal.