Marauders off to final four with 1-0 victory over Mustangs

The McMaster men's soccer team grabbed the lead early, survived a tough call, and defeated the Western Mustangs 1-0 in OUA quarter-final playoff action.  The Marauders now advance to the OUA Soccer Final-Four being held November 1^st & 2^nd at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton.

It didn't take long for McMaster to get on the scoreboard as speedy Marco Gennaccaro  (Hamilton, Ont.) out-raced the Western keeper to a long ball near the edge of the box.  Arriving just before the keeper could get his hands on it, Gennaccaro tapped the loose ball past him, corralled it and calmly scored into the yawning cage in the 5^th minute of play. 

Some controversy happened in the 21^st minute, when a scramble to the left of the Marauder goal saw McMaster whistled for a hand ball in the box, resulting in a penalty kick being awarded to the Mustangs.  With the partisan McMaster crowd howling its disapproval of the call, Western's Alex Lewis (London, Ont.) stepped up to the spot with a chance to tie the game, but McMaster keeper Angelo Cavalluzzo (Hamilton, Ont.) out-guessed the shooter, making a sensational diving save to the right side to keep the sheet clean.

The Marauders had the better of the play through the first half, and narrowly missed adding to their total on good chances by Paterson Farrell (Oakville, Ont.) in the 37^th minute and Sasha Ricciuti (Stoney Creek, Ont.) in extra time.

Needing an equalizer, Western pushed forward hard in the second half and McMaster had to play a sound defensive game, keeping the ball away from the net and counter-attacking to relieve the pressure. The Marauders used all of their substitutes in the second half to keep fresh legs on the field so they could mark the Mustangs closely.  Western's best scoring chance came in extra time off a corner kick, but Cavalluzzo and Farrell closed the door on a loose ball directed on net to end the threat.

McMaster will now advance to face the Ryerson Rams in one OUA semi-final, with York and Toronto playing in the other.  Both games will be on Saturday, November 1^st.  The semi-final winners will advance to the championship game the next day, while the two losing teams from the semi-finals will play for the OUA bronze medal, also on November 2^nd.

Source: McMaster Marauders