Western gives host Laval a scare but falls 3-2 in penalty kicks

QUEBEC CITY (CIS) – The CIS women's soccer championship hosts, the Laval Rouge et Or, came from behind twice before defeating the Western Mustangs 3-2 in kicks in the last quarter-final of opening day at Stade TELUS-Université Laval, Thursday night.

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With the match looking as if the Mustangs were headed to the semifinals, having taken a 1-0 lead in the 68^th minute, Laval striker Joëlle Gosselin's (Quebec City) 88^th minute equalizer forced overtime.

In extra time, once again Western looked poised for a semi-final berth after Jessi Couto (London, Ont.) scored a laser goal into the top corner. However, fifth-year striker, Melissande Guy (Quebec City), again drew the Rouge et Or level. From that point on the game was set up for penalties where Laval managed to come out on top.

The semifinal matchup are now set. RSEQ champions, Laval Rouge et Or will face the silver medalists from Canada West, the Fraser Valley Cascades on Friday at 6:30 p.m. At 4 p.m., a duel of conference champions takes place as the Ottawa Gee-Gees and the Trinity Western Spartans face off.

The morning match ups will feature consolation semifinals of Montreal and UOIT followed by Memorial and Western.

Laval Rouge et Or coach Helder Duarte thoughts overall. "We say every player is important on our team, Hélène Moreau came into the game with a minute to play and she scored the winning penalty shot. Marie-Joëlle Vandal also made two huge saves for us," said Duarte. "It was a crazy game! For sure it feels better when you are on the winning side. It was not our best performance though, the girls were stressed out, but it's behind us now and we are moving on to the next round."

To see and hear full reviews of both coaches, click here .

The Western University Mustangs gave a fine demonstration of tight defence in the first half, stopping Laval from creating any quality chances. Meanwhile, offensively the Mustangs applied a lot of pressure keeping Laval on their heels. Each side had two quality chances, but after 45 minutes the match was scoreless.

In the second half it was Western who struck first over the hosts. In the 68th minute Paige Howard (Waterloo, Ont.) took advantage of some defensive confusion from a corner to put the Mustangs up 1-0. The Rouge et Or tried everything to get back into the game creating dangerous attack after attack. With the gaming drawing to a close it seemed Laval's efforts would be for not until Laval striker Gosselin caused Laval fans to erupt with an 88^th–minute equalizer.

The Mustangs regained the lead in the third minute of extra time through Couto's thundering shot. However, once again Laval managed to draw even when a controversial goal was given to Melissande Guy after redirecting in Mélissa Roy's (Levis, Que) corner kick. Preceding the goal Western head coach Martin Painter was removed from the bench after arguing the ball had not crossed the line.

In the end penalty kicks were needed to decide the winner. Marie-Joëlle Vandal stole show, making two superb saves guessing right on two separate occasions. Rookie Hélène Moreau ended the match by drilling home the winning penalty shot.

SCORING SUMMARY:

LAV 0-1-0-1: 3 (4-3 PK)
WES 0-1-0-1: 2

First Half
No Scoring

Second Half
1. WES Paige Howard (1), 68^th

2. LAV Joëlle Gosselin (1), 88^th

Extra Time (2 x 15 mins - no golden goal)

3. WES Jessi Couto (1), 93^th

4. LAV Melissande Guy (1), 104^th

Kicks

WES Jenna White, goal

LAV Alexandra Brunelle, goal

WES Tianna Deluzio, saved (Marie-Joëlle Vandal)

LAV Mélissa Roy, goal

WES Tori Edgar, goal

LAV Melissande Guy, post

WES Stefanie Di Tella, goal

LAV Cynthia Turcotte, goal

WES Jessi Couto, saved (Marie-Joëlle Vandal)

LAV Helene Moreau, goal

Goalkeepers:
LAV: Marie-Joelle Vandal (W, 2 GA, 5 saves, 120:00, 1-0)

WES: Tori Edgar (L, 2 GA, 7 saves, 120:00, 0-1)

Team Stats
Shots: LAV 20, WES 12

Shots on net: LAV 9, WES 7
Corners: LAV 3, WES 7
Offsides: LAV 5, WES 1
Fouls: LAV 16, WES 16
Yellow cards: none
Red cards: none

Players of the game:

LAV: Lea Chastenay-Joseph

WES: Jessi Couto

Source: CIS