Adio DeShield-Tankard celebrated his 21st birthday in perfect fashion, coming off the bench to score for Thomas College in a 9-1 exhibition match win over Central Maine Community College on Tuesday.

The Bermudian forward was introduced ten minutes before half time and wasted no time repaying coach Kyle Fletcher’s faith, finding the target to add to his team’s goal tally.

“It’s always a great feeling to put the ball in the back of the net, especially on my birthday,” DeShield-Tankard told The Royal Gazette.

“But at the same time, I hold myself to a high standard and I expect myself to make a significant impact on the game whenever I step onto the pitch.”

The North Village player was one of three Bermudians to feature in the match with Tre Burgess and Justin Sukdeo also playing a part. Injury ruled out T’syi Showers and Cody Robinson.

Showers, who was this week named as one of the PHC Foundation scholarship recipients, is doubtful for the match against Western New England University on Saturday.

“I got injured after a friendly game the other day so I wasn’t able to suit up for the match on Tuesday,” Showers said.

“I’m hoping that I’m not out for too long. I’m making decent progress and I’ll probably miss the Saturday game, but I’m trying to be back for Tuesday.”

Bermudian youngsters also shone in competitive action over the last week.

Freshman Jace Donawa helped the University of North Carolina to a 1-0 win over Virginia Commonwealth University on Monday.

Donawa came on as a substitute and played the last 17 minutes. A week earlier, he had scored his first college goal in a 3-2 defeat against Memphis.

Sachiel Ming provided an assist for Syracuse University as they beat Iona 4-0 on Monday.

Ming provided the pass for Landon Darko to score Syracuse’s third goal on their way to taking their record to three wins and a draw in their opening game of the season.

La Zai Outerbridge, who has recently been named team captain at Hobart & William Smith College, began his college season with a 2-0 away win against St John Fisher University, which is based in Rochester, New York.

“We were obviously very pleased to get a good win on the road,” head coach Shawn Griffin said.

“St John Fisher played a low block defensive system, which made it difficult to break down. In the end, we found a way to score two goals and not give up any.”

Hobart & William Smith are next in action against Brandeis University on Friday.

Defender Austin Mobray played 76 minutes for Boston University in a 1-1 draw with Providence in their third game of the season on Monday. Their first two matches ended in a 1-0 loss to UCF and Northeastern University respectively. They are next in action against New Hampshire on Friday.

Senior defender Tai Cariah was part of the Johnson University team that beat Andrew College 5-0 on Saturday in their season opener.

“Excited to get a win in game one,” said head coach Isaac Morris.

“We had a great preseason, winning both of our tune-up matches gave us a chance to really learn about who we are and start building solid chemistry. That set us up with a lot of momentum coming into the regular season.

“Scoring early and finding the back of the net five times in game one is a fantastic start, and now our focus turns to keeping that strong momentum going at Covenant next week.”

Forward Andrew Armstrong played 60 minutes as Marshall University came from three goals down to draw 3-3 against George Mason University. That took their season record to 1-1-1.

“This season will be decided on whether or not we can figure ourselves out,” Marshall head coach Chris Grassie said.

“At our best, we are absolutely unplayable. At our worst we are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde right now. If we can just toughen up and work harder to get on the front foot, we can win every match we play.”