Sheridan College proved an unfriendly place to the Douglas College Royals last week.
The PacWest provincial men’s soccer champs returned home from the Canadian Colleges’ Athletic Association championships with just a seventh-place finish to show for it.
Eighth-seeded host Sheridan surprised everyone at this year’s nationals, taking the gold-medal final 5-4 in penalty kicks against PacWest regular season champs and playoff runner-up Vancouver Island University on Saturday.
In an uncharacteristic wide open final that was in doubt right up to the final penalty shot, both teams traded goals in a 2-2 first half, before VIU sent the game into extra time with a successful penalty shot goal in stoppage time.
The Ontario league bronze medallists took the lead in overtime, but Vancouver Island again silenced the home crowd with a goal in the 115th minute to send the outcome to a shootout.
Sheridan sent six shooters to the penalty spot, finally winning the school’s first men’s soccer title 6-5 on Chris Di Vixio-Mendez’s shootout winner.
It was the Ontario college’s first CCAA men’s soccer title and first medal in more than two decades since taking a bronze in 1992 and a silver in ’90.
Behind a partisan home crowd, Sheridan upset the second-seeded Royals 3-0 in the tournament opener last Wednesday.
Douglas was then eliminated from the medal round following a 2-1 loss to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology on the following day.
Last year, NAIT knocked the Royals out of gold-medal contention at the CCAA national championships.
The Royals salvaged some pride, edging Holland 2-1 in the match for seventh place.
