Concordia falls six points after almost making the playoffs in 2012-2013
The 2012-13 season for the Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team saw them make huge strides. They finished with a 6-5-3 record and 21 points, good enough for fifth in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) division. Though they failed to make the playoffs, their record was a major improvement to their 2-9-3 record from the year before. The Stingers saw their head coach, Jorge Sanchez, win a Coach of the Year award as a result of the jump in production.
Coming into the 2013-2014 season though, the Stingers failed to build on that momentum, as they finished with a 5-9-0 record and just 15 points, still in fifth place in the RSEQ, but 12 points short of the fourth and final playoff spot.
It wasn’t all bad for the Stingers, there were many positives to take out of the season. Defenders Shannon Travers and Kayla Myre both made the RSEQ second all-star team at the end of the season. Myre was the team’s leading scorer, and Travers was third in team scoring. Midfielder Alyssa Ruscio was named to the RSEQ all-star team in the indoor season.
Myre is returning to play for Concordia in her fourth season next year,and Ruscio will be back for her second year on the team. But Travers is one of five players leaving the program next season. One thing to remember is Concordia has a young squad, with nine first-year players on their roster this season, including Ruscio, and they could definitely use the veteran Myre to lead the team next season.
Their inexperience creeped up in some games. They played very well against the top team in the RSEQ, the Montreal Carabins, on Sept. 8 for example, but an unlucky bounce for Montreal led to the only goal of the game. They outmatched Montreal in the second half, and hit a crossbar that would have tied the game late in the second half. One month later on Oct. 6, they also played very well against the Carabins in a 2-1 loss. They held a 1-0 lead for most of the game, but allowed two quick goals in the final minutes to lose 2-1.
Ruscio is known for her defensive play, and having a year under her belt will not only help her own performance, but will help the team keep the ball out of their own net in those close games.
In their indoor season, the Stingers were fairly inconsistent. They finished fourth in the six team league. They earned an impressive 2-0 victory over cross-city rival McGill, tied their next two games against the two bottom teams, Sherbrooke and L’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), then fell to the two best teams in the RSEQ, Montreal and Laval.
Their 1-2-2 record earned them a playoff matchup against the fifth place UQTR, who finished without a win in the indoor season. The Stingers couldn’t capitalized and lost that game 1-0 and their season was done.
Though the record is not what the Stingers have wanted, the adversity is something to build on. They competed hard against the league’s best and with a few lucky bounces, some of those losses could have turned their way. With that in mind, the Stingers are well poised to make a playoff run next season if they could start winning some of those close games they weren’t winning this season and take advantage of their scoring chances.
