EDMONTON – Earning his first start on the final day of the regular season, Dorion Zambuchini scored the game-winner as the Saskatchewan Huskies headed into the playoffs on the right note after a 2-0 win over the MacEwan Griffins at Clarke Stadium.

Saskatchewan was full marks for the victory after dominating possession in the first half and playing a hungry dog-on-a-bone defensive style that nary allowed the homestanding Griffins to build much of anything throughout the match.

Centre-back Zach Edwards also scored his first goal of the season for the Huskies, who will finish second in the Canada West men's soccer Prairie Division with a 7-3-4 record. They'll host Pacific #3 Victoria (8-6-1) in a quarter-final match on Oct. 26.

MacEwan will miss the playoffs for the sixth-straight season after finishing 1-8-5.

Both results were locked in before the game began, but the motivation was there for two squads wanting to finish strong.

"I was very pleased with our first half offensively," said Huskies head coach Bryce Chapman. "I thought we were getting a little bit of synergy and had a good flow to the game and had a good foot on it.

"These are tough games to go in," he added. "We knew MacEwan was going to be hungry to finish their season off strong. We had already clinched but we definitely wanted to go into playoffs on a good foot and good tempo. We balanced some minutes with guys, but we were happy with everything."

As the Huskies pressured the Griffins throughout the first half, they had multiple chances to score – including Marcello Gonzalez twice having chip shots beat MacEwan keeper Seth Johnstone but not defenders Evan Berube (in the 28^th minute) and Zibusiso Moyo (in the 45^th).

Zambuchini broke through for the visitors in the 40^th minute as he won a ball out of scramble at the top of the box and went in alone, slotting it in the low right corner.

"That was his first start of the season, so the boys are quite proud of him stepping up and getting that important goal," said Chapman.

Saskatchewan outshot MacEwan 13-3 in the first half and 20-8 in the game (9-4 in shots on goal). Still, the Griffins were bending and not breaking.

That is until the Huskies put the game to bed in the 48^th minute. Nikolas Baikas sent in a corner kick that bounced around and wound up back on his boot. His sharp angle blast was stopped by Johnstone, but Edwards tapped in the rebound.

"Again, set piece and we missed three chances to clear it, so it was a 2-0 game," said MacEwan head coach Adam Loga. "We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit again. But all the credit to them. U of S is putting together a pretty good run in the second half. I think they have an opportunity to go pretty deep in the post-season."

As the game wore on, substitutions became the theme – Saskatchewan trying to manage minutes of starters before the playoffs and MacEwan subbing in Erik Halabi and Andrew (Toba) Adeniji, who joined fellow graduating seniors Johnstone and midfielder Jose Cruz on the field.

"It's very important," said Loga as the program feted the four and backup goalkeeper Ryan Gallagher in a Senior Day celebration after the contest. "They've put in their time, they've put in countless hours and effort into the program. It's the least we could do for them."