2 straight wins for women

In their Sunday afternoon home opening game, Concordia’s women’s soccer team defeated the University of Montreal Carabins 3-0. It was the first dual between these two teams since U of M joined the league this year.
The win concluded a perfect weekend for the Stingers. On Saturday, they defeated Bishop’s 6-3, giving them a 2-0 record.
Because of a a slow start, Concordia’s defense had to be alert. 10 minutes into the game Stingers’ goaltender Melissa Downing slid to stop a threatening shot from the slot to keep the score even.
Concordia finally broke the ice at the 35 minute mark of the first half when co-captain Catherine De Abreu scored on a penalty shot, the result of a hand ball inside U of M goaltender’s crease. De Abreu gave the goalie no chance with a perfect top corner bullet to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead.
Not happy with his team’s play in the first half, coach Ammar Awad changed his game plan at half time. The results came almost immediately.
Top forward Kelly Hemsley fooled one of U of M’s defenders with two sharp dribbles before making a nice center pass to rookie Jerusha Osborne who roofed it in the right corner.
This put the Stingers up 2-0 early in the second half.
The duo hit again a few minutes later when Osborne controlled the ball from the 30 to the 10 yard line before firing it to Hemsley who easily kicked it in for a 3-0 lead.
Early on in the season, the two look like they have been playing together for years. “I love playing with Kelly,” said Osborne. “It’s easy to read her game.”
Concordia completely dominated the second half and multiplied the shots on net.
With a comfortable lead, Awad pulled out Hemsley 20 minutes before the end of the game.
He was satisfied with the performance of his players in the last half.
“I changed my tactics and the girls listened very well to me. It works well because I trust them and they trust me,” Awad said.
But Awad knows there is room for improvement. “We haven’t played any exhibition games and players don’t even know each others names yet. We can do even better,” he said although happy with the weekend results.
The Stingers will play at UQAM on Friday, Sept. 21, before taking on Laval at Loyola, on Sunday the 23rd.

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