Bermudian trio Sami Carolo, Kydan Browne, and Isai Gibbons played their part as Saint Mary’s University produced an explosive second-half display to overpower the Mount Allison Mounties 5-1 at Huskies Stadium.
The afternoon belonged to forward Amare Valente-Boateng, who delivered an individual masterclass with a devastating four-goal haul, while Carolo set up one of the strikes to ignite a dominant second-half fightback.
The Mounties had threatened an upset early on, breaking the deadlock against the run of play in the 19th minute. Forward Alejandro Wohlgemuth Rohan was released down the left flank before drilling a crisp, low drive inside the far post to hand the visitors an unexpected 1-0 advantage.
Saint Mary’s responded with intent and created several quality openings before the break. Mounties goalkeeper Adam Shooshan pulled off a fine stop to deny Jalen Loague, before Valente-Boateng saw a venomous effort rattle back off the crossbar.
However, those first-half warning shots paved the way for an onslaught after the restart.
The breakthrough arrived in the 58th minute when Jake Wilcox unlocked the Mounties defence with a searching ball forward. Valente-Boateng gathered on the breakaway and slotted a pinpoint finish past the diving Shooshan to level the contest at 1-1.
Just five minutes later, the first-year striker put the Huskies ahead. Hauled down inside the box by a recovering defender, Valente-Boateng dusted himself off and dispatched the resulting penalty into the bottom-right corner.
The forward completed a rapid nine-minute hat-trick in the 67th minute, combining with Bermudian midfielder Carolo, who slipped through a neat pass for Valente-Boateng to beat Shooshan low once again for a 3-1 lead.
Mount Allison had an opportunity to reduce the deficit in the 71st minute, but Huskies goalkeeper Daniel Covelli charged off his line to make a vital block from Luke Paterson’s breakaway strike, maintaining the two-goal cushion.
Valente-Boateng then claimed his fourth of the match in the 78th minute. Lachlan Sylvester pumped a free-kick into Will Brown, whose clever no-look lay-off was swept home by Valente-Boateng to move him into a tie atop the Atlantic University Sport scoring charts with six goals on the season.
Loague added the exclamation mark on the stroke of the 90th minute. Following a defensive clearance from Justin Chiasson, Loague beat his marker to the loose ball, broke clear on goal, and deftly chipped the advancing goalkeeper to seal an emphatic five-star victory.
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