Cougars advance to first men’s futsal final

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This article was published 15/03/2025 (236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time, the Assiniboine College Cougars are headed to a Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference final on the pitch.

The Cougars edged the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers 7-6 at Assiniboine on Saturday and will face the top-ranked St. Boniface Les Rouges on Sunday at noon.

“I have no words for it. Three years ago I came to Brandon to help AC make a big team. I know it’s taken a long time but finally we made it,” said all-conference player Paulo Pinto.

“Thanks for my team, thanks for my coach, I knew we were capable to make to the final.”

Pinto struck first from just a few metres away from the CMU net, then scored a banger on a long toss by goalkeeper Gerardo Alas. The all-conference player blasted it with his left foot bar down to lead 2-0 five minutes in.

The Blazers tied it quickly midway through the half, the first on a free kick drilled past the Cougars wall and the second on a nifty dribbling move to sneak past Alas.

The Cougars had a chance to pull ahead when the Blazers captain fouled Pinto on a breakaway, taking a red card for a two-minute power play.

AC was unable to take advantage but took the lead with 3:25 left in the half when captain Vadym Kochenko rifled a shot from 10 metres out off a corner kick.

Assiniboine stayed up 3-2 at the break.

After CMU equalized early in the second half, Pinto drew a pair of penalty kicks, scoring the first before Kochenko drilled the other home.

Danylo Denysevych added an insurance marker on a counterattack, leading 6-3 with eight minutes left.

It proved helpful as the Blazers got one back less than a minute later.

CMU drew within one with two minutes left but Andres Olarte tucked home a loose ball 20 seconds later to restore the two-goal edge, which lasted all of 10 seconds.

But the Cougars scratched and clawed for 85 agonizingly long seconds and kept the ball out of their net.

AC faces a USB team without its goalkeeper, who was sent off during the first semifinal.

“The key for (Sunday) is the same we did in the first game against them when we went up 4-1 in the first half so we should do the same,” Pinto said. “Man marking, box, that’s the best thing we can do against USB.”

 

BOBCATS FALL IN SEMI

Brandon University gave unbeaten USB almost all it could handle in a 7-6 decision to open the day.

It was an utterly bizarre, frantic and thrilling clash with everything from fantastic to fluky goals and cards of both colours flying out of the officials’ pockets.

Bryson Haywood netted a hat trick for the Bobcats to keep it close, just not close enough.

“If we all just put it all out there and try our best, there’s nothing else we could do. We all tried, just a couple of mistakes. A game like this is crazy, a fun environment so I was glad to be a part of it for sure,” Haywood said.

“They have a few guys that are really techy (technical) with the ball so they can move it pretty fast and open up some space.

“They can open us up a bit easier than we’d like to so just tough to play against.”

Les Rouges capitalized on a few quick counterattacks to take a 3-1 lead into halftime.

Five minutes into the second half, Victor Lamb drew a penalty kick and the Bobcats took advantage. Victor Andrade drilled it and while goalkeeper Mohamed Fizazi made the initial stop with his face and Andrade hit the crossbar on the rebound, it was third time’s the charm for Matheus Ruffini to make it 3-2.

Fizazi was down for a few minutes with an apparent head injury 

Bobcat veteran Bryson Haywood tied it with a wily play, sneaking to the back post and deflecting home a hard, slightly wide shot aimed at the bottom left corner.

Brandon took its first and only lead on another penalty kick, but it was short-lived as league MVP Amine Mrabet hit a shot on the ground past a well-screened Matheus Souza.

Les Rouges pulled ahead for 20 seconds, then Haywood deflected a long ball past Fizazi, who simply wasn’t expecting anything headed his way.

USB went up 6-5 on a good cross for an easy finish on the back post, then doubled the lead with the eventual game-winner on a quick counterattack with 1:45 to go.

The Bobcats pushed hard in the final stretch after Fizazi picked up his second yellow card for delaying the restart of play with 23 seconds to go.

Haywood netted one more goal on the weak backup keeper with 15 seconds left, but the Bobcats were unable to put anything else on net.

“I’m just proud of these guys,” Haywood said. “All the guys coming in, they’re going to be ready when the time comes. We just got to keep the environment going for Bobcat soccer and just keep fighting. That’s how we like to play.”

 

BU WOMEN BEAT AC 4-1

The top-seed BU women are off to the final on Sunday at 2 p.m., after beating AC 4-1.

Mackenzie Boyes opened the scoring for Brandon midway through the first half, an otherwise quiet 25 minutes.
Until the dying seconds at least, when AC’s Kiera Griffin blasted a shot off the crossbar, narrowly changing the 1-0 halftime score.
The Bobcats offence grew stronger as the second half wore on, cashing in on a pair of rebounds as Brogan Henry and Jorja Hoad hit the net to make it 3-0.
Bien Van Berkel put it to rest with 14 minutes to go on a long shot tucked into the bottom left corner.
Angela Fetsch put the Cougars on the board with just over six minutes remaining, ending Josie Black’s clean sheet bid.

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