It was a tale of twos for Concordia’s women’s soccer team as they dropped both of their opening matches against Laval and UQTR to start the season.
Two first half goals in both matches forced Concordia to play catch up. In their season opener against Laval on Friday, the Stingers were on defence for much of the match facing 29 shots from the potent Laval offence.
The Stingers’ defence, when focused, did a decent job of containing Laval, who finished fifth in last year’s national championship. Offensively, though, there were few moments when Concordia could get through the tight back four of their opponents. Laval doubled their score in the second half with a pair of unfortunate miscommunication goals to end the match 4-0.
After the unfortunate loss to Laval, the Stingers hoped to redeem themselves against the UQTR Patriotes in the annual Erica Cadieux memorial match.
The match started poorly for Concordia as they, again, went down by two, in quick fashion.
However, newcomer Gabriela Padvaiskas answered for the Stingers to make it 2-1 within five minutes.
Coach Jorge Sanchez switched up keepers for the second match going with another rookie, Brittany O’Rourke, in lieu of Catherine Perusse-Daigneault for the Sunday match.
O’Rourke could not have asked for a worse start staring down a 2-0 deficit within the opening of the game, but the green keeper settled down, making a few key stops in the half.
The Stingers evened things up with a break away goal by another rookie Alexandra Dragan in the 33rd minute.
The second half brought with it hope as Padvaiskas dinged one off the crossbar early followed by a goal post save behind O’Rourke to keep the score-line levelled. Gabrielle Rivest, however, put UQTR up in the 25th minute of the second half with a heartbreaking goal that would prove the match winner.
The Stingers came back in a dramatic flurry, but it seems the winds of fate were not blowing with the burgundy youngsters.
Stingers substitute Emily Hubbard missed an emerald of a chance in injury time to tie it, but her free shot in front of a gaping net found nothing but crossbar. Less than two minutes later, Kristina McGovern’s shot hit the post.
“We have to be opportunistic,” said coach Jorge Sanchez. “We can’t waste open chances. We didn’t have that killer instinct at the end that we needed.”
The gift the Patriotes keeper gave Hubbard six yards out was one that Sanchez knew had to be buried.
“You have to bury those,” Sanchez said. “If you want to be a competitive team, those have to be put away.”
The young Concordia team started five players who are in their first year with the Stingers and, though the work ethic is there, capitalizing on chances is needed if they are to get better results.
“The reality is that we probably played badly for ten minutes in two games and gave up seven goals,” said coach Sanchez.
Two first half goals in both matches forced Concordia to play catch up. In their season opener against Laval on Friday, the Stingers were on defence for much of the match facing 29 shots from the potent Laval offence.
The Stingers’ defence, when focused, did a decent job of containing Laval, who finished fifth in last year’s national championship. Offensively, though, there were few moments when Concordia could get through the tight back four of their opponents. Laval doubled their score in the second half with a pair of unfortunate miscommunication goals to end the match 4-0.
After the unfortunate loss to Laval, the Stingers hoped to redeem themselves against the UQTR Patriotes in the annual Erica Cadieux memorial match.
The match started poorly for Concordia as they, again, went down by two, in quick fashion.
However, newcomer Gabriela Padvaiskas answered for the Stingers to make it 2-1 within five minutes.
Coach Jorge Sanchez switched up keepers for the second match going with another rookie, Brittany O’Rourke, in lieu of Catherine Perusse-Daigneault for the Sunday match.
O’Rourke could not have asked for a worse start staring down a 2-0 deficit within the opening of the game, but the green keeper settled down, making a few key stops in the half.
The Stingers evened things up with a break away goal by another rookie Alexandra Dragan in the 33rd minute.
The second half brought with it hope as Padvaiskas dinged one off the crossbar early followed by a goal post save behind O’Rourke to keep the score-line levelled. Gabrielle Rivest, however, put UQTR up in the 25th minute of the second half with a heartbreaking goal that would prove the match winner.
The Stingers came back in a dramatic flurry, but it seems the winds of fate were not blowing with the burgundy youngsters.
Stingers substitute Emily Hubbard missed an emerald of a chance in injury time to tie it, but her free shot in front of a gaping net found nothing but crossbar. Less than two minutes later, Kristina McGovern’s shot hit the post.
“We have to be opportunistic,” said coach Jorge Sanchez. “We can’t waste open chances. We didn’t have that killer instinct at the end that we needed.”
The gift the Patriotes keeper gave Hubbard six yards out was one that Sanchez knew had to be buried.
“You have to bury those,” Sanchez said. “If you want to be a competitive team, those have to be put away.”
The young Concordia team started five players who are in their first year with the Stingers and, though the work ethic is there, capitalizing on chances is needed if they are to get better results.
“The reality is that we probably played badly for ten minutes in two games and gave up seven goals,” said coach Sanchez.
The Stingers face off against McGill Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. on the Redmen’s field.
love the descriptive “soccer” lingo! It’s like listening to a Primier League broadcaster. Do you have an English accent too? well done.