Extra-time anguish for Brandon men in final – Brandon Sun

The Brandon University Bobcats left everything on the field and then walked away.

On the court where they had done nothing but celebrate all season, after more than 120 grueling minutes, they couldn't watch the Canadian Mennonite University team lift the trophy they were sure would be theirs.

The Blazers beat the top-ranked Bobcats 2-1 in overtime in the Manitoba College Athletic Conference men's soccer final at the Healthy Living Center field.

Bobcat fifth-year seniors Nathan Chubati and Bryson Haywood were speechless as they left the field for the last time.

Striker TJ Bodunrin felt their pain.

“It definitely hurts because these guys are like brothers to me. I love them to death. I can definitely say that everyone on that field definitely gave their hearts and fought every minute for these guys,” Bodunrin said.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t give them another trophy and another trip, but hey, we still have another year, we still have something to look forward to.”

The playing was physical and vocal from the beginning.

Both teams committed a ton of fouls, thought the other team committed more, screamed when they were called for a foul, and screamed more when they weren't called.

The complaints far outweighed the number of quality scoring chances in a scoreless first 45 minutes.

Although discontent remained, both grievances awoke in the second half.

The Blazers struck first when all-conference forward Romaine Francis sent a low, left-footed angled shot inside the front post and Final Four MVP Taiwo Oshode headed in at the back post to beat standout goalkeeper Matheus Souza on the hour mark.

Nine minutes later, the Bobcats caught a break when Blazers goalkeeper Nicholas Peterson failed to save Camilo Rodriguez's free kick. CMU cleared the ball once over the goal line, but Bryson Haywood headed the ball forward to Matheus Ruffini, who was looking away from the goal but still headed the ball home to tie the game.

The rest of normal time decided nothing, as did the first half of extra time.

Three minutes into the second bonus frame, CMU appeared to take the lead, but after discussion with the assistant referee, the referee overturned the goal, calling Francis offside.

However, the striker did not give up and seven minutes later he was driving the ball across the top of the box when Matt Woolf tried to intercept the ball but missed the ball and brought down Francis for a penalty.

Souza guessed correctly, but Rookie of the Year Nicholas Pavao blasted the ball over outstretched arms for the game winner.

Naturally, the Bobcats didn't like the call.

“It's definitely a tough question. It's one of those things where we like to call the game for ourselves. We want the game to be decided for us, or frankly, we want the game to be decided by the other team,” Bodunrin said.

“We don't want the game to be decided by stupid things like how it ended (Sunday). I think both teams fought. I wouldn't be mad if either team pulled out, but the way the result turned out is really unfair.

“It was very obvious it wasn't a penalty, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I think everyone else here knew the guy was going down and the referee gave it because he saw it.”

The Bobcats tried desperately to level the score but were unable to capitalize on several chaotic scrums. In one of them, Rodriguez received a second yellow card and was sent off just a few minutes before the end of the match.

“CMU came out and played pretty well. They prepared pretty well…especially based on the last game we played against them, they prepared well to handle what we threw at them,” Bodunrin said, referring to BU's 6-0 win over the champions earlier in the month. “They played a good game and it was definitely a battle for both teams.

“They pushed it out, it’s part of the game.”

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