BOX SCORE

Penalty magic struck once again for the McMaster Marauders, and goalkeeper Angelo Cavalluzzo played the hero for a second-consecutive day, as McMaster beat the UQAM Citadins 3-2 and 5-4 on penalties to advance to the CIS final.

After Mark Reilly converted to put McMaster ahead, Cavalluzzo denied Simon-Pierre Cote-Kougnima on the ensuing UQAM penalty to send the Marauders to Sunday's championship match.

McMaster will play the winner of the York-UPEI semifinal to conclude Saturday's action. The Marauders are guaranteed to match their best-ever finish at the CIS tournament, having won silver twice in 1991 and 1992.

Mark Reilly and Andoni Gallego had goals for the Marauders, who overhauled a two-goal halftime deficit to defeat the Citadins.

Armel Dagou and Felipe de Sousa scored for UQAM, who will play the loser of tonight's second semifinal in tomorrow's bronze-medal match.

It was a nightmare start for the Marauders on Friday, as they conceded twice inside the opening 10 minutes.

The Citadins were ahead in just the first minute of play, when Felipe de Sousa found space through the middle of the park and took the ball onto his left foot, blasting a long drive high and past Angelo Cavalluzzo at the far corner.

Things went from bad to worse nine minutes later, when Armel Dagrou went unmarked in the Marauder penalty area, and knocked down a cross before applying the light finish into the far side netting.

McMaster came to dominate possession as the first half wore on, and the Marauders probed repeatedly for a goal to get them back into the match. Their best opportunity to do just that came in the 28th minute, when Marco Gennaccaro whipped in a ball to the far post that found Paterson Farrell behind the UQAM defenders, but the forward could only scuff his shot horribly high.

The Citadins held onto their lead into the break, but the Marauders continued to press to better effect when play resumed.

McMaster made a game of it early in the second half, when the ball bounced to Mark Reilly in the UQAM penalty area and the forward chested it into the yawning net. His goal gave belief to the Marauders, who surged forward in even greater numbers in search of an equalizer.

That levelling goal came in the 61st minute, when defender Andoni Gallego put the final touch on a ball pinballing through the UQAM penalty box, backheeling past goalkeeper Houhou to knot the match at 2-2.

Neither team threatened convincingly late in regulation, but both created chances for a go-ahead goal early in the extra time. A UQAM cross forced Cavalluzzo to be alert in the McMaster box, rushing out to stamp out any danger, while Mark Reilly created a glorious opportunity at the other end, chipping to Sasha Ricciuti at the far post who narrowly missed getting his head to the ball.