CS St-Laurent caused a surprise in the preliminary round of the Canadian championship, eliminating Halifax Wanderers FC 5 to 3 on penalties in Halifax on Thursday evening.
St-Laurent became the first team in Quebec Ligue 1 history to defeat a team from the Canadian Premier League. Halifax, for its part, lost its flag for a second consecutive year in the preliminary round. St-Laurent will therefore face Toronto FC in the next round.
In the 29th minute of play, Halifax won a penalty after a foul by the visitors in their penalty area. Captain Dan Nimik was called upon to shoot and didn’t miss his chance, scoring with a shot into the bottom of the net from the right side to give his team the lead.
Four minutes later, St-Laurent had a great chance to score by overflowing to the right. While Mouhamadou Kane tried to overtake the goalkeeper in the area, but the goalkeeper cut him down while trying to push the ball away. The referee had no choice but to whistle for the penalty. A decision that did not please the goalkeeper. Kane rushed forward and beat the goalkeeper with a low shot to tie the game.
In the 65th minute of play, the visitors were awarded a corner kick. Riad Bey spotted Loïc Kwemi who was left alone outside the penalty area. Loïc decided to shoot at the net. The ball then deflected off the leg of defender Girogio Probo and at the same time beat the goalkeeper. This goal gave wings to the visitors and demoralized the home fans who were speechless.
At the end of the match, the locals redoubled their ardor by creating the tie thanks to Ryan Telfer with the help of two deflections in front of the net. The match therefore went to penalties. While the first seven players converted their penalty, Christian Volesky tried to level the goals, but missed his chance giving St-Laurent the advantage to close the books.
Mouhamadou Kane therefore came in front of Yann-Alexandre Filion with victory at his fingertips and did not flinch.
The other quarter-finals, played on total goals at the end of a home-and-away series, will pit Cavalry FC against Vancouver Whitecaps, reigning champions of the competition, Atlético Ottawa against Pacific FC and CF Montréal at Forge FC.
The winner of the tournament takes home the Voyageurs Cup and qualifies for the Concacaf Champions League.
