You could be forgiven for mistaking the afternoons match for an early fall season game, or even a late summer scrimmage. Blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures approaching 20 set the stage for the second Saturday meeting between King’s and Mount Saint Vincent at Wickwire field.
Having been shut out 4-0 in the initial meeting, it was clear the Mystics had no intention of playing on their back foot; fielding an offensively engineered squad designed to test the Blue Devils back line, which lacked rookie sensation Darien Slawter through injury. The bargain paid off early, as Logan O’Connell snatched a goal for the visitors in the 23rd minute, squeezing the ball past the outstretch Rylan Logan in net.
The lead was to be short lived. A 38th minute counter-attack effort orchestrated by the tandem of veteran Mubarak Abdul-Azeez and rookie Ben Rutisye produced a goal for latter, his first in a King’s shirt. A stalemate at halftime finally broke the way of the Blue Devils in the 6oth minute when Ben Kloppenburg converted a penalty, his third goal in two matches.
With a 2-1 final, King’s swept the series against their local rivals, and remain undefeated in unofficial ACAA play this season. While it’s unclear if King’s will have the opportunity to take the field again this fall; their efforts across the last two weeks have cemented which Halifax side will rule the city until the 2021 season.
