Soccer: Stingers split doubleheader with UQTR

The men’s team suffered their second loss of the season. Photos by Ana Hernandez.

The Concordia women’s soccer team picked up their first win, while the men lost

Men’s Soccer:

The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team lost 2-0 to the Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes on Sept. 16 at Concordia Stadium. The Stingers failed to build off of a win last week and suffered their second loss of the season.

The first half passed without any goals, but it wasn’t due to a lack of chances. The Patriotes attacked early on. Stingers goalkeeper Karl Gouabé stopped a UQTR partial breakaway in the fourth minute and then parried away the rebound shot.

The Stingers first real opportunity came on a two-on-one between forwards Mustapha Medouni and Sebastien Boucley. A Patriotes defender got in the way of the two, and cleared the ball.

In the 23rd minute, Boucley was brought down in the box, but no call was made, prompting some shouts from the Stingers. Two minutes later, a Patriotes player was given a yellow card for diving in the Stingers box, much to the dismay of the visitors.

In the final moments of the half, Abdallah Medouni collided violently outside the box with Patriotes keeper Dominic Provost. Both teams surrounded the referee, demanding punishment to the opponent, but the Stingers were called for a foul.

The Patriotes opened the second half with force, scoring two goals in the 58th and 60th minutes, securing the victory. The first goal came off the head of Louis-Thomas Fortier on a corner from Simon Lagarde. Two minutes later, the Patriotes controlled the ball in the 18-yard box, and Billal Qsiyer finished a passing play with a shot to the top corner.

A disappointed head coach Greg Sutton said he believes his team had two lapses of concentration that led to the goals.

“We lost our concentration on the set piece,” Sutton said. “Then on the second one we were still disappointed and we were not concentrated. We knew we could have had some opportunities later in the game, but we were our own enemy.”

The Stingers did create some scoring chances late in the second half, but it just wasn’t enough.

The Stingers host the Sherbrooke Vert et Or next week, a team currently last in the Réseau du Sport étudiant du Québec.

“[We have to learn] from what we did, and learn from those mistakes that happened in this game, and continue to improve,” Sutton said.

Women’s Soccer:

The women’s team went out on the pitch right after the men’s game and produced a much better result than their counterparts, as they beat the Patriotes 3-1, earning their first win of the season.

The Patriotes sit last in the province, but this was no easy task for the hosts. The Stingers struggled to find their rhythm early on, and the Patriotes countered with a few scoring chances. Rookie goalie Carmen Milne made some key saves for the Stingers in the first half hour.

The women’s team picked up their first win of the season against UQTR by a score of 3-1.
The women’s team picked up their first win of the season against UQTR by a score of 3-1.

The Stingers started to create chances 35 minutes into the game. They had a shot cleared off the line, a few good shots just missed wide and a breakaway stopped. The breakthrough came in the 41st minute when rookie Chama Sedki blasted a free kick from 30 yards out into the far corner, taking the keeper by surprise.

Two minutes later, Stingers midfielder Laura Lamontagne took a through ball on the wing, broke in and hit the crossbar. Forward Sophie Beaudry was on the doorstep to give them a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

The Patriotes scored a goal just four minutes into the second half. The Stingers defended well against UQTR’s pressure, and Milne was a big reason for that. She made a number of big stops, including back-to-back close-range shots in the 70th minute.

Head coach Jorge Sanchez was impressed by her play.

“There’s an adage that says, don’t be happy when the goalie makes a save, that’s their job,” Sanchez said. “Be happy when a goalie makes the big save. And she made the big save.”

The Stingers put the game to bed with a third goal in the 75th minute. Lamontagne collected a rebound off the crossbar, and had two shots stopped before Stingers mid-fielder Julia Bianchi helped her put the ball away.

“The team just works hard. We’re around the ball. We’re not assuming the ball is going to go in or not go in,” Sanchez said.

Both Stingers soccer teams will take on the Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Sept. 23 at Concordia Stadium. The men’s game is at 6:30 p.m. while the women’s game is at 8:30 p.m.

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