W-SOCCER ROUNDUP: No. 1 Ottawa remains undefeated
September 26 - Queen's @ Carleton
Every coach has games that keep him or her up at night, wondering what could have been. For Alex McNutt of the Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team, this afternoon’s contest with the Queen’s University Gaels may very well be one of those games.
The women fell 4-0 at the hands of their division rivals, but things could have been so much different if not for an unlucky bounce very early in the contest.
Carleton started the match very much on the front foot, and was able to maintain possession and move the ball around the pitch in the opening five minutes.
The Ravens could have taken the lead after striker Adrianna Ruggiero had the ball deflect off her following a poor clearance attempt by Gaels goalkeeper Sabrina Carew.
With the net gaping, the ball didn’t have enough on it to travel beyond the line, and it was eventually cleared by the Gaels defence. That close call was all the defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) champions needed to get things into high gear.
Moments later, the visitors struck with what seemed to be a sucker punch of a goal in the seventh minute, turning the momentum of the match on a dime.
Veteran striker Jessica Tessier, who looked dangerous throughout the contest, found herself unmarked inside the Ravens penalty area and got her head onto a perfect cross from strike partner Breanna Burton.
With Ravens netminder Rachel Bedek moving across to follow the flight of the ball, Tessier’s header back towards the near post left Bedek with no chance.
As the old cliché goes, goals change matches. This one, despite coming early on, was no different.
“Once they scored that goal, all of a sudden we struggled from that point onwards really to regain composure,” McNutt said after the match.
Queen’s went on to dictate the tempo of the half with their ability to maintain possession, and their control of the contest paid off in the form of a second goal in the 29th minute.
The Ravens were unable to deal with a Queen’s corner, which led to a mad scramble inside the six-yard box. With bodies hitting the ground in bunches and Bedek unable to locate the ball between a maze of legs, Jessie De Boer managed to push the ball beyond the line.
Tessier would kill any hopes of a Ravens comeback with a superb individual goal in the 68th minute, before completing her hat trick with the final kick of the match to cap off what McNutt called a “very disappointing” performance by the home side.
“This is one of those days where there weren’t really a lot of positives,” he said. “It’s gonna be about how we react to it and come out of it.”
The loss put an end to the Ravens mini two-game winning streak, and also allowed the Gaels to open up a six-point gap between the two teams in the very tight Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division.
After struggling early in the season to find the back of the net, the Ravens had managed to score nine goals in their previous two matches; wins against Royal Military College and Trent University, respectively.
But the Gaels presented a much sterner test for head coach Alex McNutt and the women, as they arrived in the nation’s capital with the second best defensive record in the division. Queen’s had conceded only five goals this season coming into the match.
Carleton’s main attacking threat came in the form of Ruggiero, who spurned the home side’s best chance of the match late in the first half.
After midfielder Veronica Mazzella won possession and sent a delightful through ball into the path of Ruggiero, the Markham, Ont. native saw her side-footed effort palmed away by Carew.
With a two-goal lead going into the break, the Gaels never looked in danger of coughing up the advantage, and simply added some gloss to the score line with the two goals from Tessier in the second half.
Carleton will be looking to get back into the win column when they travel to Toronto for a match-up with the Ryerson Rams on Sept. 29.
“They picked themselves up after the defeat against the University of Ottawa, and I think we can do that again here,” McNutt said. “We have a big weekend ahead again and that’s the test for them now they have to pick themselves up and reproduce some of the form we saw down in Queen’s and at the beginning of the season.”
Source: Carleton Athletics
Laurentian @ Nipissing
The Nipissing Lady Lakers faced a familiar foe on the pitch Wednesday as their northern rivals the Laurentian Voyageurs came to town.
The Lady Lakers had a strong game and out chanced the visiting Vees however the home team could not capitalize on their chances as their neighbours did and in the end were shutout 2-0.
The Voyageurs got off to a quick start as a throw in was quickly chipped to Crystal Ann Hackett who sprinted for the ball on the right flank and blasted a tough shot from close range to open the scoring at the 4 minute mark.
Both teams would get some quality chances generated by quick counter attacks with the Lakers best chance coming on a through ball that was collected by Erica Dixon who found herself alone with the keeper however her hard shot was stopped by Richele Greenwood.
In the 33 minute the Lady Vees would add what would the final goal of the game on a quick counter attack down the left flank, followed by a cross in the 18yard box which found the foot of Julie Lopez and then the back of the mesh.
The second half was certainly more defensive as both teams kept things in check. The Lakers best chance came when they collected a turn over at mid-field and quickly pushed the ball forward to Valaine Confesor who turned and fired a shot that was stopped the Vees keeper.
The Vees in turn would get a glorious chance as they made quick counter attack touch pass that resulted in a through ball which was fired at Lakers keeper Kelly Dunk who made the first save. The ball was loose in the 18 yard and was again collected by Laurentian who fired a shot that rang off the cross bar. The play was finally stopped as the Vees were flagged for the off-side.
The game would end with the Vees victory as they improve to 5-3-1 while the Lady Lakers drop to 0-7-2. The Lady Lakers will travel to Peterborough to face Trent Sunday.
Brock @ Western
The Western Mustangs soccer teams hosted the Brock Badgers today at the Hellenic Community Centre in London. After an evening full of back-and-forth action, the women's team came out with a 2-0 defeat over the Badgers.
Jenna Schroeder and Lauren Winquist scored the goals for Western, both in the first half of the game. Mustang goalie Keltie BIngham made two key saves for her second shutout in a row. The Badgers' goaltending was also impressive as Luciana Di Paolo made eight saves, five of which were in the first 15 minutes of the game. This moves the Stangs to a 6-2-2 record as the team approaches the midway point of the regular season.
The Western Mustangs soccer teams are back at home on October 5, playing the Windsor Lancers at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
Source: Western Sports Info
RMC @ Ottawa
The uOttawa women’s soccer team proved to everyone why they are the number one ranked team in the country on Wednesday, defeating the RMC Paladins 4-0 in dominating fashion on home turf.
The win extends the Gee-Gees undefeated streak to nine games to open up the season. The commanding performance also holds the garnet and grey's first place lead in OUA East standings at five points over 2011 OUA East champion, Queen’s Gaels.
The defensive unit of the garnet and grey shone on Wednesday, backstopping the team to another shutout and scoring three of the four goals in the matchup.
The home team established dominance in ball possession early on in the game, setting the tone for the evening. Great ball movement allowed the Gee-Gees to control the pace of the game from start to finish.
Second-year striker Pilar Khoury picked up where she left off last weekend, scoring the opening goal against RMC only nine minutes into the game. Elisabeth Wong came streaking down the left wing and made a flawless pass to Khoury who one-timed a shot in stride and fired the ball past the RMC goaltender. Khoury also lead the Gee-Gee attack Wednesday night with five shots on goal.
“I’ve seen a huge development in her in one year,” said Gee-Gees head coach Steve Johnson. “She understands the university game, she has grown as a player and person, and we are delighted to have her wear our colours.”
The game slowed down to a more controlled pace after the first goal, with the Gee-Gees displaying their patience at both ends of the field.
It took the uOttawa women 66 minutes to add another goal to the scoreboard with a header from veteran defenseman Gillian Baggott. Baggott was unmarked in the 18-yard box and redirected the ball perfectly with her head, giving the Gee-Gees a two goal lead.
Chiara Quadri, another key component to the Gee-Gee defence, made her contribution to the evening just three minutes later, scoring in a rare fashion that received a big reaction from the home crowd. Quadri lined up a corner kick and managed to bend the ball enough to tuck into the far post untouched.
The Gee-Gees were not done there either, notching another tally in extra time with a goal from defenseman Lia May Blake, her first of the season.
“It’s nice when your defenders and chip in with three goals, it’s certainly not what we were expecting,” said Johnson. “Having our backs come forward to the front line helped draw some of their players out of position so our players could be in a position to score.”
Despite the final score, Paladin goaltender had a strong performance in net for the Paladins, stopping multiple point-blank scoring opportunities for the Gee-Gees. In total, she shut the door on 15 garnet and grey shots.
Next up for the Gee-Gees is a southern weekend road trip to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday, September 29, at 7:00 p.m. and the Ryerson Rams on Sunday, September 30, at 1:00 p.m.
Source: Ottawa Sports Info
