Press Release
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Soccer: Aigles in Nova Scotia for the season openers
Atlantic University Sport soccer regular season kicks off this weekend as both women’s and men’s teams from the Université de Moncton's Moncton campus hit the road in Nova Scotia.
The Aigles Bleues and Aigles Bleus will be in Antigonish on Saturday to face the St. Francis Xavier University X-Women and X-Men at 1 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. respectively. On Sunday, the teams will be in Sydney for a duel against the University of Cape Breton Capers at 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.
“We modified the roles of some veteran players, and we saw great things in exhibition games," said coach Mehyar Zekaroui of the Aigles Bleues. “We have great enthusiasm within the team and the preparation went well. We had some pretty close preseason games against good opponents and we played everyone on the pitch. We play against good teams from the start. We have rookies who will play, including forward Madeleine Belliveau, an excellent goalkeeper and others on each of the lines. I am optimistic about the starting 11 and they should bring something different. We have a more balanced team than in previous years. StFX and Cape Breton are in the top 10 nationally, but anything can happen. We play these two teams twice this year and I like to play them at the beginning of the season. My message to our team is to have a positive attitude and to play for victory in every game. Games will be challenging, but it is possible to develop an attitude and an identity.”
For his part, Aigles Bleus coach Younes Bouida is encouraged by the results in preseason games. “We had good games against good opponents and it gave a season look to our pre-season,” he explained. “The vast majority of players participated and showed intensity. It was positive for us. We will have good players and we want to prepare our young players for the future. 18-year-olds sometimes have difficulty playing against 22- and 23-year-olds. We finished well last year and the expectations are quite high. We are capable against the best teams with few4th and 5th year players in the lineup. Our goal is to cause another surprise in a very difficult schedule and compare ourselves at the national level. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain in this first trip. Goaltender Mattéo LeBlanc of the France, Alexandre LeBlanc of Moncton, and Daniel Peace, a Franco-Manitoban, are young players who will play well this year. We lost some big pieces, but we know we can score.”
Aigles captains are Dave Guichard for the Aigles Bleus and Alexane Dupuis and Alexandra Roy for the Aigles Bleues.
Note that the Aigles Bleus finished5th in last year's final standings with a record of 5 wins, 3 losses and 4 draws for 19 points. The team then narrowly lost in the semifinals of the AUS championship, 2-1 to the eventual champions, the Capers.
The Aigles Bleues lost all 12 games last season, some by a single goal.
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