A little bit of beautiful weather on Saturday brought beautiful results for the Queen’s Golden Gaels women’s soccer team.
The Gaels triumphed 3-1 in a penalty shootout over the Western Mustangs following a 1-1 tie after regulation and extra time. This was yet another installment of what has become one of the hottest and most hard-fought rivalries in CIS soccer. The two teams had already faced each other twice earlier this season, following last year’s clashes in both the OUA final and a CIS championship round robin—won by Western and Queen’s, respectively.
Before the match even began, things were looking positive for the Gaels as the weather and field conditions in London looked excellent—a sharp contrast to the rain and muddy terrain they battled in their midweek playoff encounter with Windsor at Richardson Stadium.
Queen’s wasted no time in taking advantage of the dry, sunny conditions, with rookie Laura Barker blasting the ball from the edge of the 18-yard box over goalie Lindsay Colwell in just the third minute of play. The Gaels continued their solid play for the remainder of the first half, and entered the break with their 1-0 lead intact.
Western cranked up the pressure in the second half, taking a larger territorial advantage in the game and increasing their share of possession. Queen’s did well to limit the number of quality chances that the Mustangs were afforded, but Western eventually cracked the solid Gaels’ defence in the 83rd minute with a goal from Jessica Tasios off of a corner kick.
Coach Dave McDowell said he was pleased with how his team performed and maintained their defensive shape.
“We are less concerned with the possession advantage they may have, as long as we also limit the number of quality scoring chances they get,” McDowell said. “We did a very good job of that, especially defending [Christina] Bonasia and [Jessica] Van Dyk.”
Overtime produced no winner, although Gaels leading scorer Eilish McConville nearly ended the game with a breakaway close to the end of the extra session. Colwell came up with a big save to rob McConville and send the game to penalty kicks.
Kate Chambers continued her phenomenal season with outstanding work in the shootout, saving three of the four penalties that came her way. McConville, Janine Clarke and Ali Skinner all converted penalties for the Gaels to send them to their second and most important win over the Mustangs this season.
McDowell said he was elated with his team’s performance in the wake of their lacklustre performance against Windsor.
“[The team] just really battled hard, and I was even able to go deep to the bench to get some of the subs involved,” he said.
This game was the second shootout for Queen’s soccer in four days, as the men’s team fell 7-6 in penalties to the Waterloo Warriors in their midweek playoff game.
The lady Gaels now move on to the OUA Final Four hosted by Brock this coming weekend in St. Catharines. They will face the York Lions in the OUA semifinal on Saturday, and with a win, will face the winner of the Brock/Ottawa matchup in the OUA final on Sunday. A win against York will guarantee the Gaels a place in the CIS Championships Nov. 10-13 in Edmonton.
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