2023 U Sports Men's Soccer Championship

2023 U Sports Men's Soccer Championship
Tournament details
Country	Canada
Venue(s)	Ness Timmons Field; Sydney, Nova Scotia
Dates	9–12 November 2023
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	CBU Capers (2nd title)
Runner-up	Montreal Carabins
Third place	UBC Thunderbirds
Tournament statistics
Matches played	11
Goals scored	22 (2 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Owen Sheppard, Tyler Attardo (3 each)
Championship MVP	Owen Sheppard (CBU Capers)
	← 2022 2024 →; All statistics correct as of 12 November 2023.

The 2023 U Sports Men's Soccer Championship was the 51st edition of the U Sports men's soccer championship, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of the 2023 U Sports men's soccer season. The tournament started on November 9 and ended with the bronze-medal and championship games being played on November 12 at Cape Breton University. It was the fourth tournament to be held in Nova Scotia.^[1]

Thompson Rivers WolfPack were the defending champions following their victory in 2022, however, they failed the qualify for the 2023 tournament following a quarterfinal elimination in the Canada West playoffs.^[2]

Host

The tournament was held at Ness Timmons Field, on the grounds of Cape Breton University. CBU were hosting the tournament for the first time in 51 years.^[3]

Qualified teams

The championship consisted of an eight-team single-elimination tournament. Four teams automatically qualified for the tournament as one of the winners of the four conferences, three qualified as the runners-ups, and one qualified as the host.

Participating teams

Team	Qualified	Last appearance	Last win^[4]
CBU Capers	Host	2022	2017
St. Francis Xavier X-Men	AUS champions	2022	Never
Carleton Ravens	OUA champions	2021	Never
York Lions	OUA finalists	2019	2015
Montréal Carabins	RSEQ champions	2022	2021
UQTR Patriotes	RSEQ finalists	2022	2019
Mount Royal Cougars	Canada West champions	None	Never
UBC Thunderbirds	Canada West finalists	2022	2013

Seeding

The conference champions were allocated seeds 1 through 4, with the additional teams (conference runners-up or host team) allocated seeds 5 through 8. Ideally, seed 1 plays seed 8, seed 2 plays seed 7, seed 3 plays seed 6, and seed 4 plays seed 5, however, the bracket may be adjusted in the interest of avoiding an intra-conference matchup in the first round.^[5]

Pos	Conf.	Team	Reg. Season	Playoffs
1	CW	Mount Royal Cougars	11–2–1	3–0–0
2	AUS	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	9–2–1	2–0–0
3	OUS	Carleton Ravens	10–1–1	2–0–1
4	RSEQ	UQTR Patriotes	6–5–1	2–0–0

5	AUS	CBU Capers (H)	9–0–3	1–1–0
6	RSEQ	Montreal Carabins	9–0–3	1–1–0
7	CW	UBC Thunderbirds	13–1–2	2–1–0
8	OUS	York Lions	7–2–3	1–1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 4 November 2023. Source: Standings
(H) Host

Bracket


5th place match			Consolation semi-finals			Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final



						1	Mount Royal Cougars	1

						8	York Lions	0

			8	York Lions (p)	0 (4)				1	Mount Royal Cougars	0

			4	UQTR Patriotes	0 (3)				5	CBU Capers	1

						4	UQTR Patriotes	2 (2)

						5	CBU Capers (p)	2 (3)

8	York Lions	3										5	CBU Capers	1

2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	1										6	Montreal Carabins	0

						2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	1

						7	UBC Thunderbirds	2

			2	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	2				7	UBC Thunderbirds	0	3rd place match

			3	Carleton Ravens	1				6	Montreal Carabins	2

						3	Carleton Ravens	1 (4)				1	Mount Royal Cougars	0

						6	Montreal Carabins (p)	1 (5)				7	UBC Thunderbirds	1

Results

Day 1

Quarter-finals

November 9th Match A	Mount Royal Cougars	1–0	York Lions	Sydney, Nova Scotia
7:30pm	Miguel Da Rocha 89'	Report		Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Mario Al-Ayass

November 9th Match B	CBU Capers	2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	UQTR Patriotes	Sydney, Nova Scotia
5:00pm	Owen Sheppard 21', 32'	Report	Vincent Lamy 77' Mahdi Abbassi 90+'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Niko Jecanski
	Penalties
	Jason Hartill Jamie Nicholson Owen Sheppard Benjamin Fortuin		Vincent Lamy Emile Boivin Thomas Sire Samuel Laplante

November 9th Match C	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	1–2	UBC Thunderbirds	Sydney, Nova Scotia
1:30pm	Lewis Dye 74'	Report	Sebastian Dzikowski 45' Luke Norman 52'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Seb Noshinravari

November 9th Match D	Carleton Ravens	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Montreal Carabins	Sydney, Nova Scotia
11:00am	Jordan Tisseur 57' Daniel Assaf 59'	Report	Quentin Paumier 33'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Ryan Schwenger
	Penalties
	Raphael Garcia Daniel Assaf Luca Piccioli Eric Yoseke Tareq Hamad Kevin Kaba Yusuf Osman		Kareem Sow Quentin Paumier Paul Mortas Julien Bruce Adam Benmoussa Theo O'Poulin Olivier Dianson

Day 2

Consolation Semi-finals

November 10th Match E	York Lions	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	UQTR Patriotes	Sydney, Nova Scotia
1:30pm		Report		Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Ryan Schwenger
	Penalties
	Isaac Bradbury Chris Melino Christian Zeppieri Tyler Attardo Gabe Poles		Siméon Laland Etienne Bertrand Thomas Sire Vincent Lamy Nicolas Desjardins

November 10th Match F	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	2–1	Carleton Ravens	Sydney, Nova Scotia
11:00am	Samuel Barrowcliffe 1' Blake Fenton 88'	Report	Brady Curkovic 90'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Scott Decker

Semi-finals

November 10th Match G	CBU Capers	1–0	Mount Royal Cougars	Sydney, Nova Scotia
6:30pm	Owen Sheppard 71'	Report		Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Mario Al-Ayass

November 10th Match H	UBC Thunderbirds	0–2	Montreal Carabins	Sydney, Nova Scotia
4:00pm		Report	Yohan Le bourhis 80' Sami McDuff 81'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Niko Jecanski

Day 3

5th place match

November 11th Match I	York Lions	3–1	St. Francis Xavier X-Men	Sydney, Nova Scotia
1:00pm	Tyler Attardo 34', 86', 90'	Report	Logan Rieck 39'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Scott Decker

Day 4

3rd place match

November 12th Match J	Mount Royal Cougars	0–1	UBC Thunderbirds	Sydney, Nova Scotia
11:00am	Sjard Strauss 90'	Report	Luke Norman 26'	Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Seb. Noshinravari

Final

November 12th Match K	CBU Capers	1–0	Montreal Carabins	Sydney, Nova Scotia
2:00pm	Jacob Spizzirri 45'	Report		Stadium: Cape Breton University Attendance: 0^[a] Referee: Mario Al-Ayass

Statistics

Goalscorers

There have been 22 goals scored in 11 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

3 goals

Tyler Attardo – York
Owen Sheppard – Cape Breton

2 goals

Luke Norman – UBC

1 goal

Miguel Da Rocha – Mount Royal
Vincent Lamy – UQTR
Mahdi Abbassi – UQTR
Lewis Dye – St. Francis Xavier
Sebastian Dzikowski – UBC
Daniel Asaff – Carleton
Quentin Paumier – Montreal
Samuel Barrowcliffe – St. Francis Xavier
Blake Fenton – St. Francis Xavier
Brady Curkovic – Carleton
Yohan Le Bourhis – Montreal
Sami McDuff – Montreal
Logan Rieck – St. Francis Xavier
Jacob Spizzirri – Cape Breton

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Match report claims that there were 0 spectators in attendance, however, spectators were clearly visible in live streams broadcast by the CBC.

^ "2023 U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship". U Sports. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
^ "2023 Men's Soccer Championship". Canada West Universities Athletic Association. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
^ Fraser, Jeremy. "NATIONAL PREVIEW: Eight teams set sights on Cape Breton for U Sports Men's Soccer Championship this week | SaltWire". www.saltwire.com. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
^ "U Sports men's soccer championship", Wikipedia, 2023-11-14, retrieved 2023-11-16
^ "PLAYING REGULATIONS – MEN'S SOCCER" (PDF). U Sports. August 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

[Attendance-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Match report claims that there were 0 spectators in attendance, however, spectators were clearly visible in live streams broadcast by the CBC.

[1] "2023 U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship". U Sports. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.

[2] "2023 Men's Soccer Championship". Canada West Universities Athletic Association. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

[3] Fraser, Jeremy. "NATIONAL PREVIEW: Eight teams set sights on Cape Breton for U Sports Men's Soccer Championship this week | SaltWire". www.saltwire.com. Retrieved 2023-11-08.

[4] "U Sports men's soccer championship", Wikipedia, 2023-11-14, retrieved 2023-11-16

[rules-5] "PLAYING REGULATIONS – MEN'S SOCCER" (PDF). U Sports. August 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

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