OUA Women's Soccer Roundup (Oct. 9)
October 6, 2017
Waterloo 1 Laurier 1
Waterloo, Ont. (October 6th, 2017) - History repeats itself. Similar to their matchup earlier this season, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women’s soccer team held the lead over the Waterloo Warriors for the majority of the game, but Waterloo found the equalizer in injury time. The teams tied 1-1 for the second time this season, with this version coming on a beautiful early Friday afternoon at University Stadium.
Perhaps motivated by the strong contingent of young Golden Hawk fans in the crowd (for the annual school-day game), the Golden Hawks got on the board first. In the 35th minute, Nicole Lyon (Kitchener, Ont.) found herself in a terrific position in front of goal thanks to a through pass by Gagan Parhar (Surrey, B.C.). Lyon took advantage of the opportunity, blasting a shot past diving Warrior goalkeeper Madison McDonald (Kitchener, Ont.). It was the only goal of the first-half, giving Laurier the lead going into the break.
To Laurier’s advantage, the second-half was dominated by midfield play and strong defending, allowing for limited offensive chances for both teams. The Hawks were hopeful to hold off the Warrior attack and sustain the clean-sheet. However, Gabrielle Kim (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and the Warriors had different motivations.
Only a few seconds after the scoreboard hit the 90-minute mark, Kim, on an assist from Natalie Villegas (Kitchener, Ont.), slid the ball into the corner of the net, providing the tying goal.
It was an unfortunate result for Laurier keeper Ashley Almeida (Burlington, Ont.), who was minutes away from securing her fourth shutout of the season. The third-year veteran was exceptional in goal, particularly in the 11th minute when she made a great save, punching a Waterloo header over the bar. Both Almeida and McDonald kept their teams in the game with stellar performances, each making five saves.
With the draw, the Hawks earn a valuable point, giving them 23 points for the season overall, while the Warriors now have 20 points. Both teams currently sit in playoff positions: the Hawks now tied for second-place, and Waterloo just behind, occupying the fourth spot in the OUA-West standings
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A huge thank you is in store for the thousands of elementary school students, teachers and parents who made the trip to University Stadium to support the teams and contribute to a fun game environment.
Next up for the Hawks is a match against the top-seeded Western Mustangs in London. The two rivals are scheduled to battle on Saturday, October 14th at Mustang Field.
Source: laurierathletics.com
York 2 McMaster 1
The York University Lions women's soccer team earned its second win of the season on Friday night with a 2-1 victory over the McMaster Marauders at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ont.
It didn't take long for the Lions to get on the board as Farkhunda Muhtaj scored a beauty just five minutes in when she looped the ball over the head of McMaster goalkeeper Deanna Persico and tucked it inside the far post for a 1-0 lead.
The Lions controlled possession for most of the half but couldn't generate many scoring chances and they carried the 1-0 advantage into the half.
The lead was extended to two in the 61st minute when Kendra Saxton deflected a cross into the box directly into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Twenty minutes later Lindsay Bosveld got one back for the home team, but that was as close as the Marauders would get and the Lions picked up an important three points in the standings while improving to 2-6-4. The Marauders dropped to 2-5-5 and now sit just one point ahead of the Lions in the OUA West standings.
The Lions will be back on the road for their final regular-season away game on Sunday when they travel to St. Catharines, Ont., to face the Brock Badgers in a contest beginning at 1pm.
Source: yorkulions.ca
Guelph 0 Brock 1
The Brock University women's soccer team extended their win streak to three games as they defeated the Guelph Gryphons by the score of 1-0 Friday night at Alumni Field.
After a scoreless opening half, Brock would get on the scoreboard in the 53rd minute. Two-sport Brock student-athlete Emily Armstrong picked up a rebound off an Ashley Harris shot and buried it past Guelph starting goalkeeper Elizabeth Brenneman for the eventual game-winner.
Brock starting goalkeeper Marilena Spagnolo recorded her fourth straight shutout and her sixth on the season. In 12 games, she has allowed just 10 goals for a 0.83 GAA which is currently sixth in the OUA. She leads the OUA in shutouts (6 - tied), games played (12), minutes (1081:00), and is third in saves (61).
The Badgers host the York Lions Sunday at Alumni Field at 1pm.
Source: gobadgers.ca
October 7, 2017
Laurentian 0 UOIT 0
OSHAWA, Ont. - The UOIT women's soccer team had their 10-game win streak come to an end but their point streak reached 11 games as they tied the Laurentian Voyageurs 0-0 at the Oshawa Civic Saturday afternoon.
The Ridgebacks (10-0-1) remain atop of the league table, four points ahead of the Ottawa Gee-Gees (8-1-3) with a game in hand. Queen's (8-2-1) are five points ahead of Laurentian (6-3-2) for third place.
With the draw, the Voyageurs have put together a run of their own as they have earned at least a point in their last eight games.
The Ridgebacks had plenty of opportunities to break the scoreless draw but Laurentian goalkeeper Caitlin McNamara made nine saves for the shutout. Victoria Savage (Woodbridge, Ont.) also had an impressive outing making five saves including a game-saving point-blank stop in the final five minutes of the game. Savage has six shutouts this season.
The Ridgebacks best opportunity to score came midway through the second half when Nicole Zajac (Mississauga, Ont.) sent in a cross to Cassandra Sribny (Pickering, Ont.). Sribny got control of the ball and blasted a shot that just sailed over the crossbar. Five minutes later, Sribny beat McNamara but the sideline officials' flag went up calling the Ridgebacks for an offside.
UOIT will look to get back in the win column when they take on the Nipissing Lakers on Sunday afternoon. Game time at the Civic is 12 p.m.
The Ridgebacks will wrap up their home schedule next weekend with games against Carleton (Saturday) and Ottawa (Sunday).
NOTE: The Ridgebacks would like to thank all of the fans who contributed to the #thinkpink campaign in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and SickKids Foundation.
Source: uoitridgebacks.com
RMC 0 Ottawa 5
The no. 7 nationally ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s soccer team (8-1-3) scored twice in the opening twenty minutes and cruised to a dominant 5-0 victory over the RMC Paladins (0-11-0) on Saturday afternoon.
Hannah Landry notched the game’s opening goal on a header from a corner taken by Julia Rosenthal. Landry would pick up an assist on the second goal as well, redirecting another header from Rosenthal before Sophie Curtis finished it off.
Curtis, for her part, would add the Gee-Gees’ final goal of the match in minute 89 on an unassisted effort. Théa Nour and Kayla DaCosta-Pacheco added the middle goals for Ottawa, the first goal for each player this season. Rookie Michelle Salhany provided the assists on both goals.
“You build confidence when you play well, and it just feels good. Confidence is a big part of our game,” said Nour, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ottawa who scored five goals in her rookie campaign.
The Gee-Gees tallied 34 total shots to RMC’s four, of which just one called upon Julie-Anne Lamarche for a save. Claudia Rusu did her part for the Paladins with 19 saves – she leads OUA with 12.73 saves per game and had a season high on Saturday.
Ottawa is undefeated in program history against RMC, with an all-time record of 22-0-3 since RMC joined OUA in 2004. The no. 10 ranked Queen’s Gaels (8-2-1) visit Ottawa on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Source: geegees.ca
Western 5 Algoma 0
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – A first half hat trick from Giulia Geraci led the Western Mustangs to their 10th straight win, defeating the Algoma Thunderbirds 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at Superior Heights Field.
Western's record improves to 11-1-0 as they continue to reign atop the OUA West standings, while Algoma moves to 0-11-0 on the year.
Geraci's three goals give the first-year midfielder seven this season as she moves into sole possession of first place on the Mustangs scoring leaderboard. Right behind Geraci is Julia Crnjac who now has five goals through 11 games after tallying two against the Thunderbirds on Saturday. Crnjac has been on a tear over the last few weeks, scoring in each of the Mustangs last four contests.
Western got out to a fast start on Saturday, with Geraci converting a ball from Nikki Balachorek at the 10 minute mark to give Western an early lead.
That lead would increase just four minutes later when Geraci scored her second of the game, before netting her third goal off an assist from Crnjac in the 37th minute to give the purple and white a 3-0 lead going into the half.
Crnjac continued Western's scoring efforts in the second half, waiting just seven minutes before recording her first goal of the game to extend the Mustangs lead to four goals. She'd round out the day's scoring just six minutes later to make it a 5-0 final for Western.
Saturday's victory was not only Western's 10th straight win, it was also the Mustangs 10th clean sheet of the year, with Sault Ste. Marie native Megan Girardi picking up the win in net.
The Mustangs will wrap up their weekend schedule on Sunday afternoon with another road contest against Algoma, with game time set for 12 p.m. at Superior Heights Field.
Source: westernmustangs.ca
Queen’s 3 Carleton 1
OTTAWA, Ont. (October 7, 2017) – The No.10 Queen's Gaels (8-2-1) were victorious 3-1 in an away game against the Carleton Ravens (3-9-0) this thanksgiving weekend.
GAME FLOW
The Tricolour were quickly able to put offensive pressure on the Ravens defence. The Gaels sent several powerful shots on goal but it wasn't until the 18th minute of the game that Alexandra Doane(Brookside, N.S.) put Queen's on the board.
Only 11 minutes later Micah Vermeer (Grimsby, Ont.) bumped up the lead for the Gaels 2-0, with an unassisted goal. Queen's played a strong first half defensively keeping the Ravens from sending quality shots on goal. The first half ended with another goal from Alexandra Doane and the Gaels held a 3-0 lead.
The second half started with great efforts from the Gaels but they were unable maintain their shut out game. The Ravens put themselves on the score board with a header for Tori MacFarlane in the 67th minute of the game. The Gaels continued to fight and with the help of Marina Ribecca (Vancouver, B.C.) they maintained their lead 3-1 to end the game.
BY THE NUMBERS
3 – Saves for Queen's keeper Marina Ribecca (Vancouver, B.C.)
9 – Goals for Alexandra Doane this season
17 – Total fouls between the Gaels and Ravens this match
Source: gogaelsgo.com
Other Scores
Nipissing 1 Trent 3
October 8, 2017
Western 7 Algoma 0
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – Two goals each from Julia Crnjac and Giulia Geraci led the Western Mustangs to a 7-0 win over the Algoma Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon at Superior Heights Field.
The victory not only extends Western's winning streak to 11 games, but also clinches first place in the OUA West standings. With three games remaining on the Mustangs schedule the team has a 13-point lead over the Guelph Gryphons and Laurier Golden Hawks. Although the Gryphons have a game in hand on the purple and white, they won't be able to catch Western in the standings, paving the way for the Mustangs to take the top spot.
Crnjac and Geraci's goals were all in the first half, and came just a day after the duo combined for all five Western goals in the Mustangs 5-0 win over Algoma on Saturday. The trio of Sophie Weaver, Kendra Marlatt, and Nicola Panaccione all scored one goal each in the second half to round out the scoring for the visiting side.
Megan Girardi earned her second clean sheet of the weekend, turning aside two shots in the win. Khadyja Claxton was a little busier in the Algoma net, making nine saves in the loss.
Crnjac got the scoring started for Western on Sunday, converting an assist from Nikki Balachorek to put Western up 1-0 in the 18th minute.
Geraci made it a 2-0 lead just two minutes later with her first goal of the day, and Crnjac followed up in the 24th minute to extend the lead to 3-0 off an assit from Alyssa DeSantis.
The Mustangs would get one more just prior to the end of the half with Geraci tallying her fifth goal of the weekend at the 43-minute mark. The first-year midfielder now has nine goals on the season, tying her for first place among
Western's rapid scoring pace continued in the second half, as Weaver found the back of the net just four minutes into the frame, with Marlatt doing the same only a minute later to give Western a 6-0 lead.
Panaccione rounded out the scoring at the 67-minute mark to give the Mustangs a 7-0 win.
Western will return home for their next contest as they'll welcome the Laurier Golden Hawks to Mustang Field on Saturday, October 14, in the Mustangs final home game of the regular season. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
Source: westernmustangs.ca
Nipissing 0 UOIT 1
OSHAWA, Ont. - It did not take long for the UOIT women's soccer team to get back in the win column as they defeated the Nipissing Lakers 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Oshawa Civic.
The win comes 24 hours following the Ridgebacks' 0-0 draw against the Laurentian Voyageurs that broke up their 10-game win streak. With the victory the Ridgebacks' point streak extends to 12 games.
UOIT (11-0-1) remains four points ahead of Ottawa (9-1-3) for first place in the OUA eastern conference as the Gee-Gees easily defeated the Queen's Gaels (8-3-1) 4-0 on Sunday to end the weekend with a pair of wins.
Nicole Zajac (Mississauga, Ont.) would score the only goal of the match in the 69th minute as the Ridgeback veteran found the back of the net from long range placing it just under the bar. Cassandra Sribny (Pickering, Ont.) picked up an assist, her second of the year.
UOIT peppered the goal with shots in the first half, outshooting the Lakers 10-4. The second half was more even with shots ending up 7-6 in favour of the Ridgebacks.
Victoria Savage (Woodbridge, Ont.) recorded her seventh clean sheet of the season making five saves. Savage is third in the league in save percentage at .891. Mykaela Volpe ended up with eight saves in the losing effort.
UOIT's next action will be at home against Carleton (Saturday) and Ottawa (Sunday). This will be their final regular season home games of the season as they head up north to Nipissing and Laurentian the following week.
Source: uoitridgebacks.com
York 3 Brock 0
The York University Lions women's soccer team faced the Brock Badgers in St. Catharines, Ont., for a Thanksgiving Sunday match-up and won 3-0 for their second victory in a row.
Fifth-year midfielder Ashley Nater scored one goal each in both the first and second halves, with second-year midfielder Kendra Saxtonalso scoring in the second half.
Goalkeeper Tamara Orlando successfully blocked all three of the Badgers' shots in net to finish the game with a clean sheet and her first victory of the year.
This is the Lions' second win of the weekend after defeating the McMaster Marauders Friday night. They picked up an important six points against teams they were chasing in the standings and are currently ranked seventh in the OUA West Division with a 3-6-4 record two and a half weeks out from playoffs.
The Lions return to Alumni Field on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 1pm to take on the winless Algoma Thunderbirds in the first of back-to-back meetings next weekend.
Source: yorkulions.ca
RMC 0 Carleton 1
OTTAWA, ON — After six consecutive losses, the Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team finally snapped their skid with a tight 1-0 win over the last-place RMC Paladins at MNP Park on Sunday afternoon.
Entering the game at 3-9 and eight points back of the last playoff spot, the women were once again in a must-win situation – this time, they pulled through.
Prior to the game, the Ravens recognized the graduating players playing their final home game of their university careers. Many of their families were in attendance, making for a supportive crowd.
The game began rather quietly with neither team presenting any threatening attacks. Carleton controlled most of the possession and rarely let RMC into their back third in the early parts of the half.
Despite producing very controlled play leading up to the box, the Ravens women couldn’t penetrate the Paladins defensive shell and failed to finish on any of their first-half opportunities.
It seemed as though Carleton would break the mold in the 37th minute but were again unsuccessful.
Emily Copeland Dinan (Ottawa, ON) fired a shot at the goalie and Aaliyah McPherson (Brampton, ON) collected the rebound. The second-year defender was only able to muster a weak shot that stayed wide in what was a golden opportunity.
The teams would enter halftime with goose eggs on the board, looking to pick up the pace in the second.
Immediately applying intense offensive pressure to start the half, Carleton broke through in the 54th minute to finally take a 1-0 lead. McPherson took a courageous shot from 30-yards out and masterfully found the top of the net, out of reach from the Paladins goalie.
The Ravens continued to pick up the pace and found themselves with countless opportunities in the box. It also seemed the women would have even greater opportunities as an RMC defender committed two handballs in the box but neither were called.
RMC’s keeper Claudia Rusu was strong throughout the game, making multiple brilliant saves to close out the second half. She prevented Carleton from scoring any more goals on the afternoon as the game would end 1-0.
“I thought we were a little flat at the beginning of the game,” said head coach Fred Juett. “The second half I thought we came out and just really did well and pressed. We controlled the ball and looked a lot more composed.”
Carleton’s crucial first win in three weeks boosts the team’s record to 4-9 ahead of its second-last weekend of play.
The women will face a daunting challenge in their desperate push for a playoff spot, facing two U SPORTS Top 10 teams (No. 2 UOIT and No. 5 Ottawa) in their final three games.
The Ravens need to take at least two of three and hope Ryerson drops all four of their remaining games in order to jump into playoff position.
“The only thing we can control is our play and if we can play well we have a chance,” said Juett. “I’m more worried about our play and how we finish it off and today was a decent performance.”
The team will hit the road against the UOIT Ridgebacks next. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Oshawa Civic.
Source: goravens.ca
Queen’s 0 Ottawa 4
The Gee-Gees women’s soccer team earned a big 4-0 victory over the visiting Queen’s Gaels on Sunday afternoon. Ottawa, ranked seventh in the latest U SPORTS Top Ten, used a pair of early goals to control the play while keeper Margot Shore ensured the victory with seven quality saves against the no. 10 ranked Gaels. Ottawa (9-1-3) now has three shut-outs in a row and six this season.
Katherine Bearne opened the scoring for Ottawa in the fourth minute and would contribute two assists to the following goals. The Physics and Mathematics major who was honoured on Thursday night for her achievements as an Academic All-Canadian with a 10.0 GPA now has team highs in goals (7) and points (9) this season.
Ottawa’s second goal was a magnificent header by Miranda Smith who flew in to get plenty of power on her header to finish a corner kick by Bearne to the far post. Emma Lefefvre had done nice work to earn the corner with her speed down the wing, and it was 2-0 in minute 19.
The third Ottawa goal was similarly well-executed, with Kayla DaCosta-Pacheco getting on the end of an arching free-kick from Bearne to head in her second goal of the weekend.
“The early goals allowed us to feel some security for sure,” said Shore, a third-year Civil Engineering student whose seven saves was a season high. "We felt confident gaining momentum, and it takes pressure off the back line. The centre-backs have been solid all year and the outside backs just do so much work for us getting offensive and defensive opportunities – they really have kept us in a few games at it showed today.”
“I’m feeling really good right now, I was able to come in and play as well as I know that I can today. Queen’s is always a good test and we showed how dominant we can be. I’m really proud that we kept the shut-out.”
Anika Littlemore provided the lone goal of the second half on a penalty kick.
A total of four yellow cards were issued in the match; two to Queen’s in the first half and two to Ottawa in the second half. It was the first yellow card issued to the Gaels this season, while Ottawa has a total of just three. The rivals played to a 1-1 draw in the first head-to-head match this season.
Source: geegees.ca
Other Scores
Laurentian 1 Trent 1