OUA Women's Soccer Roundup September 20-24
September 20, 2017
York 0 Guelph 2
The York University Lions women's soccer team suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hand of the Guelph Gryphons on Wednesday afternoon on the road in Guelph, Ont.
The Gryphons opened the scoring in the 18th minute on a goal by Sydney Johnson for an early 1-0 lead. Later in the first half the Lions had a chance to equal the score but Michaela Krampert's shot was saved by Guelph goalkeeper Libby Brenneman.
Stephanie Lamanna had another chance to level the score early in the second half but Brenneman again was up to the task with the save.
Guelph finally got the insurance goal in the 71st minute by Victoria Hinchliffe, with an assist to Alana MacLean, and then the Gryphons defence stood tall to keep the ball away from their net to the final whistle.
Brenneman finished with the two saves, while York goalkeeper Taylor Grant made one save in the loss.
The Lions dropped to 1-5-2 with the loss and remain with five points in the OUA West standings, while the Gryphons moved back into first place with a 6-2-1 record.
Source: York Lions
September 22, 2017
York 1 Waterloo 1
The York University Lions women's soccer team paid a visit to the Waterloo Warriors at the University of Waterloo's Warrior Field on Friday. Both teams settled for a 1-1 draw.
After a scoreless first half, fourth-year midfielder Christina Morelliscored the Lions' only goal of the game in the 48th minute. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Warriors evened the game again in the 56th minute with a goal by Ainsleigh Sedore.
York goalkeeper Tamara Orlando was tremendous to keep her team in the game, making nine saves and allowing just the one goal. Her Waterloo counterpart, Madison McDonald, only faced three shots and made two saves.
The Lions now have a 1-5-3 season record, and are ranked eighth in the OUA West Division. The Warriors sit in third place with a 3-1-4 season record.
Source: York Lions
September 23, 2017
Ottawa 3 Ryerson 1
It was an unfortunate afternoon for the Ryerson Rams women's soccer team as they fell to the No. 4 University of Ottawa Gee-Gees for the second time this season, by a score of 3-1 at Downsview Park.
However, right from the opening whistle, the Rams were determined to show that they had improved since their last match up with Ottawa. Improved zone and player coverage upon the defensive front, allowed Ryerson to stop the majority of attempted offensive attacks from the Gee-Gees for stretches of the first half. This new approach to defense, however, wouldn't be enough to stop the second place team in the OUA East, as Faythe Lou (Surrey. B.C.) opened the scoring for Ottawa in the 22nd minute.
Source: Ryerson Rams
McMaster 0 Windsor 0
The women were unable to capitalize early on in the game when the ball was chipped behind the McMaster defenders, giving Kaitlyn Austin an opportunity to go one-on-one with the goalie, but the shot went just high above the net.
The play was evenly matched throughout the game, with both goalies keeping the ball out of their net.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Western 1 Brock 0
The Brock University women's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to the Western Mustangs Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Western came out strong with pressure early and controlled the pace. The Badgers however countered well as the group of Beth Kramer, Alex Crawford, Stephanie Dalli and Kinley Wilsonwere relentless in stopping the Mustangs attack and quick at switching fields on the Western women.
Brock goalkeeper Marilena Spagnolo had an excellent performance at home. She was tested early having to make a save narrowly sending the ball over the cross bar. Spagnolo ended up finishing the game with seven saves, including another exceptional save, diving to her right on a free kick in the 58th minute. This save solidified the strong defensive performance in the second half.
Wilson was exceptional and seemed to be everywhere on the pitch. Early in the match with the Mustangs building momentum Wilson dealt with pressure calmly time and time again. She was involved in what seemed like every defensive stop and made excellent passes to free up counter attacks.
The lone goal of the game came in the 56th minute when Sabrina Denard, on a through ball into the box, was able to control the rebound and put the Mustangs ahead.
In the end, Brock had chances down the final stretches of the game. Alex Crawford and Cassandra Belmi sent multiple entrance passes into the box off of Western fouls but the Badgers could not find the right bounce in order to level the score.
Source: Brock Badgers
UOIT 2 Queen's 1
The No. 2 ranked UOIT women's soccer team earned their eighth straight victory as they defeated the No. 8 ranked Queen's Gaels 2-1 in a rematch of last year's OUA championship.
The Ridgebacks won in dramatic fashion as Taijah Henderson (Ajax, Ont.) scored the game-winning goal in injury time, sending in a shot from 35 yards out that beat Queen's goalkeeper Marina Ribecca.
Henderson's strike was her second of the game, as she opened up scoring just one minute into the second half. The OUA all-star has six goals on the year, the most of any player in OUA women's soccer, second in U SPORTS.
Queen's lone goal came in the 76th minute when Jenny Wolever sent in a perfect cross that found the head of freshman Alex Doane, who finished it for her fourth goal of the year.
Victoria Savage (Woodbridge, Ont.) made four saves in the victory, while Ribecca stopped two Ridgeback shots on target. Shots finished 13-12 in favour of Queen's.
The Gaels/Ridgebacks match up has become quite the rivalry since last season, as the two teams have met four times with UOIT edging Queen's by one goal in each game. These meetings include two regular season matches, the OUA championship and the U SPORTS bronze medal game.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
Carleton 0 Toronto 1
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's soccer team defeated the Carlton Ravens 1-0 ON Saturday, September 23 at Varsity Stadium.
With the win, the Varsity Blues improve to 5-4 in their season, while the Ravens fall to 3-5 in a tightly contested OUA East division.
The Blues had some great chances early in the match, including a breakaway effort from third-year striker Natasha Klasios, who was unable to get the ball past Raven's goalkeeper Rada Mintchev.
Klasios had another opportunity in the 25th minute with a beautiful pass from Julia Gonsalves, but Mintchev stopped the ball once again.
The Blue and White continued to dominate the first half with yet another great chance, with a cross from Varsity Blues Alyssa Golin to Nicki Parkes, but the effort was unable to find the back of the net.
The second half was a tough battle between the two opponents, with both keepers coming up with big saves to keep the game tied.
However, U of T's hard work would pay off in the 87th minute with a crossbar rebound goal by Chelsea Cheung to win the match.
Toronto goalie Vanna Staggolis posted three saves in the win, while Mintchev posted eleven.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Other Scores:
Algoma 1 Laurier 7
Trent 2 RMC 0
September 24, 2017
Waterloo 1 Guelph 0
It's been a tremendous two weeks for keeper Madison McDonald (Kitchener/) of the women's soccer team, and the former midfielder turned goalie capped it off today with a shutout performance, as the women's soccer team blanked a very strong Guelph squad, 1-0 today on the road.
McDonald has allowed just two goals in the last four games, pacing the Warriors to a 2-1-1 record. Both wins came in shutout form giving the fourth year kin student three shutouts on the season.
In Waterloo's first contest of the weekend, the black and gold earned a hard fought draw (1-1) with the visiting York Lions under the light at Warrior Field. McDonald made several key saves while Ainsleigh Sedore(Barrie/) scored her second career goal in the 56th minute.
On Sunday, Ciara Dunne (Waterloo/) netted her third of the season in the 72nd minute while McDonald turned aside all five shots faced to give Waterloo a crucial three points in the OUA west standings. Waterloo is now just three points back of Guelph for second in the west with a 4-1-4 record (16 points). Western is comfortably in first with 24 points thanks to their 8-1-0 record.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
Brock 0 Windsor 0
The women were unable to get on the board again on Sunday, but played tough against the Badgers. Windsor was able to get the ball away from the Brock defenders, but usually found themselves offside and unable to complete the play.
Source:Windsor Lancers
Ottawa 2 Toronto 2
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's soccer team tied the No. 4 nationally ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees 2-2 on Sunday, September 24 at Varsity Stadium.
With the draw, the Blues are now 5-4-1 and remain in third place in the OUA East division.
Fourth-year striker Chelsea Cheung opened the scoring, notching her fifth of the season and second in as many days in the 12th minute.
The Gee-Gees got the equalizer in the 33rd minute as fifth-year veteran Faythe Lou capitalized on a loose ball in front of the net following an Anika Littlemore corner kick.
The two teams were tied 1-1 at the half.
Third-year striker Natasha Klasios put the Blues ahead in the 63rd minute, scoring her fifth goal of the season. The Unionville, Ont., native received the ball off the head of sophomore midfielder Julia Gonsalves, deked around a Gee-Gees defender and made no mistake in beating Ottawa goalkeeper Margot Shore.
The Gee-Gees responded though as Katherine Bearne found the back of the net off a Littlemore free kick in the 83rd minute.
Sophomore goalkeeper Vanna Staggolis made five saves for the Blues.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Carleton 1 Ryerson 5
Watson did not waste any time getting the Rams on the board, scoring within seconds of kickoff to give Ryerson a lead they maintained throughout the complete 90 minutes. Her second goal of the game would come in the 15th minute, giving her a total of five on the season.
Savahnna Robinson recorded her first goal in the OUA with the match's second and game-winner. Ryerson's five-goal game was rounded out by Alessia Carvalho and Katherine Sollbach, with the latter scoring the second half's lone goal.
Elisa Lapadula had a strong showing in net, facing five shots and allowing one goal. Carleton's lone goal was scored by Cheyenne Bent in the 21st minute of the first half. Ravens goalkeeper Rada Mintchev faced a very offence-heavy Rams squad, facing 13 shots across the match.
With their second victory over the Ravens this year coming with such a strong scoring presence, Watson sees the match as an affirmation of the team's newfound strength.
"It showed our team that we're a pretty powerful team," Watson said. "Last year we were the underdogs, but now we're showing we're coming out as champions."
Coming into the game with the Ravens sitting just behind the Rams in the OUA East, the matchup proved very important in the standings.
Source: Ryerson Rams
Trent 1 Queen's 2
KINGSTON, Ont. (September 24, 2017) - The No.8 Queen's Gaels (5-2-1) got back in the win column on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over the Trent Excalibur (1-7-1) at Richardson Stadium.
GAME FLOW
Laura Callender (Ottawa) had a strong offensive day for the Gaels starting off with firing a penalty kick shot to the back of the Trent net in the 14th minute.
Just ten minutes later, Callender fed a cross pass to Jenny Wolever(Toronto) who punched in her third goal of the season putting the Tricolour out in front 2-0.
Just before the half, Trent was awarded a penalty kick of their own and Kaitlyn Steffler beat Gaels keeper Anna Stephenson (Vancouver) to cut the Queen's lead in half.
In the second half, Callender kept the pressure on early and the Gaels came close off a pair of corners. Sarah Nixon(Oakville, Ont.) had a partial break and fed Lidia Bradau (Woodbridge, Ont.) for an open shot but the attempt went just wide of the Trent net.
The Excalibur started to press offensively in the late stages of the game but couldn't get any good chances on target.
Stephenson stopped one of the two shots faced to pick up the win.
Source: Queen's Gaels
UOIT 4 RMC 0
Taijah Henderson (Ajax, Ont.) added to her league-leading goal total on Sunday in the UOIT women's soccer team's victory over RMC.
Henderson scored in the 43rd and 86th minute as the Ridgebacks went on to defeat the Paladins 4-0. This brings her season's tally to eight goals.
Cassandra Sribny (Pickering, Ont.) opened the scoring in the third minute with her fifth goal of the season.
With Henderson's first, UOIT found themselves ahead 2-0 at halftime.
To cap off the game for No. 2 ranked UOIT Ridgebacks, Alyssia Robichaud (Toronto, Ont.) scored in the 90th minute.
The four UOIT goals came from 16 shots on goal, while they only allowed four against Victoria Savage (Woodbridge, Ont.) who earned the clean sheet. Claudia Rusu was RMC's goalkeeper in the loss.
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
Western 2 McMaster 1
A pair of goals from Sabrina De Nard and Julia Crnjac lifted the Western Mustangs to a 2-1 win over the McMaster Marauders on Sunday afternoon at Ron Joyce Stadium.
Sunday's victory is the Mustangs seventh win in a row, and improves the team's record to 8-1-0 as they remain on top of the OUA West Division standings. McMaster falls to 1-3-5 with the loss, and they occupy seventh in the West standings.
De Nard's goal is her second in as many games after she provided the lone goal in Western's 1-0 win over Brock on Saturday, while Crnjac's goal is her first of the season.
The Marauders opened the scoring on Sunday, with Lindsay Bosveld converting an assist from Amy Froome to put the home side up 1-0 at the 11 minute mark.
Western responded in the 27th minute as De Nard scored her fourth goal of the season, finding the back of the net on a penalty kick to send the game into halftime tied at 1-1.
Things would remain deadlocked until the final minutes, when Crnjac broke though with a goal in the 81st minute to secure a 2-1 victory for the purple and white.
Source: Western Mustangs
Other Scores:
Algoma 0 Laurier 1
