A sold-out crowd of 7,244 packed the Wanderers Grounds in downtown Halifax for the opening match of the 2025 International Summer Series. Two first-half goals by Halifax Wanderers U21 propelled the home side to a 3-0 victory over the under-21 side of Wrexham A.F.C.
Wanderers striker Tavio Ciccarelli opened the scoring in the 8th minute, finishing off a lovely display of passing by Halifax. Ciccarelli laid off a touch on the top of the box for Mohammed Tolba, who sent a through pass towards Luca Robichaud-Allah on the right wing; Robichaud-Allah's low cross found Ciccarelli unmarked at the back post for a tap-in goal.
The Wanderers built off the momentum of the opener to find a second before halftime. In the 32nd minute, winger Mohammed Tolba held off his defender inside the Wrexham box and got off a strong curling strike that struck the cross-bar and fell to the foot of Camilo Vasconcelos. The winger calmly slotted the ball into the goal to double the Wanderers' lead.
Both sides traded chances throughout the match, with the Wrexham side forcing several strong saves out of Aiden Rushenas and Sinclair Astridge, who split the goalkeeping duties for the Wanderers. A stop by Astridge late in the second half denied Wrexham a good chance for a goal.
A third goal came in the 87th minute off another display of passing by the Wanderers. Yorgos Gavas placed a through ball in the path of Ben Hashimoto, who dribbled forward and found Aloysius Adima-Ulor wide open inside the box. The winger from Fredericton, New Brunswick, hit a low shot into the bottom corner of the net to round out the scoring.
This opening match kicked off the 3rd edition of the annual series that sees a Halifax Wanderers Development Team face opposition from overseas. The majority of the Wanderers U21 squad is comprised of Atlantic Canadians or Atlantic University Sport student-athletes. Ten Nova Scotians had the exciting opportunity to play in front of the sellout crowd in their home province.
With the first match of the series in the books, the Wanderers and Wrexham will now head to Charlottetown, PEI, for a meeting at UPEI Turf Field on Wednesday, July 9 (6 p.m. kickoff). Tickets are available by clicking here.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
Halifax: Aiden Rushenas, Luka Robichaud-Allah, Connor Munn, Ben Thompson, Jabu Deng, Isaac VanWychen, Ben Marsh, Joven Mann, Mohammed Tolba, Tavio Ciccarelli, Camilo Vasconcelos
Substitutes: Sinclair Astridge, Ellis Sanford, Ellia Al-Shamlat, Yorgos Gavas, Josiah Kandinda, Alex Oprea, Cohan Turner, Aloysius Adima-Ulor, Ayouba Kamara, Ben Hashimoto, Mohammed Wahdan
Wrexham: Daniel O'Keefe, Tommy Clayton, Oliver McTweed, Louie May-Hawkins, Harry Wakenshaw, Carrick Murphy, Joe Rees, Rio Owen, Umar Nawaz, Wesley Graham
Substitutes: Jake Hall, Daymeon Almeida, Casey Bedford, Dafydd Edwards, Connor Thorley, Nikolas Slosarczyk, Kian Nolan, Lennie Biggs, Jac Jones, Thomas Watkin, Samuel Chesworth
Goals
8' -- Tavio Ciccarelli (Wanderers U-21)
32' -- Camilo Vasconcelos (Wanderers U-21)
87' -- Aloysius Adima-Ulor (Wanderers U-21)