Tag: wsoccer

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.

The Stingers women’s soccer team rebounded from a tough 1-0 loss to the Montreal Carabins last weekend with a solid 4-2 win on Friday night at home against the UQAM Citadins.

Concordia got their first good chance to score in the 11th minute of the first half when forward Melissa Kedro was sent in by herself but Citadins goalie Valérie Labbé came out to stop the play before Kedro was able to get a shot away.

Concordia took a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute of play when defender Kayla Myre’s header found the back of the net off of a Stingers’ corner kick.

The Stingers doubled their lead in the 38th minute when defender Philippa Lyttle’s pass from the side fell right to midfielder Alexandra Dragan, who made no mistake and buried it to give her team the 2-0 lead.

The home team came out strong early in the second-half, quickly making it 3-0 from an easy chip in by Kedro in the 6th minute of the second frame.

The Stingers then seemed to take a step back before scoring their fourth and final goal. In the 31st minute, a UQÀM player was sent on a breakaway, which sent Stingers goalie Saby Dagenais way out of her net. The Citadins player was able to beat Dagenais, leaving her a wide open net to score but her shot hit the post. The play led to a penalty kick, taken by Citadins forward Stéphanie Brien-Lejeune, who capitalized and made it 3-1.

Less than five minutes later, the Citadins were given a chance to reduce the Stingers’ lead to one goal when Brien-Lejeune was awarded another penalty kick. However, this time she hit the post, leaving the score at 3-1 Concordia.

The missed penalty kick seemed to revive the Stingers as they started to push for that fourth goal. Soon after the second penalty kick, a perfect pass from Dragan sent Kedro in all alone but her shot went just wide of the net.

In the 24th minute, Dragan had a chance to score into an open net after receiving a pass from Stingers forward Gabriela Padvaiskas, off a free kick, but she chose to pass in front of the net instead. Unfortunately, a UQÀM player got to the ball before her Stingers teammate was able to tap it in.

With three minutes left in the game, Padvaiskas was left all alone in front of Labbé but her shot went just over the crossbar. Seconds later, Padvaiskas redeemed herself when she sneaked one below the Citadins goalie and made it 4-1 Stingers.

The Citadins managed one last goal in extra time, which ended the game with a 4-2 score.

“We had a great week of practice, we knew what we did well in games last week and we knew what we had to do better today,” said head coach Jorge Sanchez. “A lot of the stuff we did in training this week came out in the game. To score four goals is great. I’m a little disappointed about the two goals [against].”

“I think we possessed the ball better and we played intelligent,” said Dagenais. “We practised a lot of our offense because we were struggling to put the ball in the net, so we worked a lot on that and it paid off with four goals.”

The team will play host to Université de Laval on Friday, Sept. 20 at 8:30 p.m.

The Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team had mixed results in this year’s indoor season. The team was looking to build on a decent fall season, in which they barely missed the playoffs.

The indoor season started with three home fixtures against McGill, Sherbrooke and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. In the season opener against rivals McGill, Concordia was on the wrong end of a three-nil score line.

Head coach Jorge Sanchez’s side stepped up their next two home matches, earning a 1-1 draw against Sherbrooke on Jan. 27 and picked up a deserved 3-1 victory against the Patriotes.

The following three matches to end the season were on the road to Montréal, UQAM and Laval. The Stingers struggled against the Carabins on Feb. 10 as they allowed two goals right before halftime. They would allow another in the second half to lose 3-0.

The weekend that followed, the Stingers made up for the big loss by hammering the UQAM Citadins four-nil. This was Concordia’s first clean sheet of the season and biggest victory.

In the final match of the season, the maroon and gold had a tricky road encounter against the Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City. With both teams tied in fourth, the winner would secure home field in the playoffs. Concordia was handed a massive 7-0 loss. This was their worst loss in both the fall and winter seasons.

The fifth-place Stingers side had to rematch the Rouge et Or in the first round of the playoffs. ConU was unable to learn from their previous match and lost 3-0.

Concordia’s record, not including the playoffs, ended at two wins, three losses and one draw.

The Stingers have some positive and negative points to take from this season.

Going into the season Sanchez made it very clear his side was trying to ensure a more attacking style of play. The tactic had some pros and cons. When the team did score, they were able to usually score over two goals in those matches. The only down side was the Stingers only scored in three of their matches.

Concordia was shutout four times, including the playoff match against Laval. The Stingers ended the regular season with eight goals for and 15 against in their six matches. Half of these goals were scored by striker Jennifer Duff, who was named second team all-star by the league.

The goals against should worry the team going forward. Allowing an average of 2.5 goals per game will always make winning tough. The Stingers will need to tighten up the back ahead of the fall season.

Sanchez was trying to get his side playing attacking soccer, but it didn’t work as well as he would have hoped. Concordia does have one of the best strikers in the league, but the team will need even more firepower if they want to score goals consistently.

Focusing on the back line should be a priority. Employing defensive tactics doesn’t necessarily mean the team will be weaker than the opposition, but would rather make the team better organized and allow fewer goals. Conceding less will give ConU more chances of picking up points each match.

The maroon and gold will have until August to rest and recruit new players before the fall season begins in early September.

After a win at home against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes last week, the Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team tried to make it two in a row on the road against the Montréal Carabins. Complexe Sportif Marie-Victorin was the venue for this Sunday’s late afternoon match.

The home Carabins side came out very strong from the opening kickoff. Five minutes in, Catherine Charron-Delage dribbled down to the right side corner and hit a low cross to an oncoming teammate. Despite connecting with the cross, the ball flew way over the crossbar.

Throughout the match, the Stingers were exposed countless times on the flanks. If not for the numerous offside calls and poor finishing, the Carabins could have scored many more goals.

In the 39th minute, the Carabins got their deserved goal. A cross found its way to Pascale Ducas inside the penalty area. She quickly turned and fired her left-footed shot past Concordia goalkeeper Saby Dagenais.

In the 45th minute, seconds before halftime, another Montréal cross created confusion in the Concordia box, leaving Charron-Delage with an easy tap-in on the goal line.

The Carabins took a 2-0 lead into halftime. Concordia played a lot better in the second half, but their level of play was still not where it needed to be.

In the 54th minute, Ducas received a through ball and managed to dribble past the last Concordia defender. Her shot went a few feet past the post.

Seven minutes later, Ducas was at it again for the Carabins. This time, Dagenais made a big stop on her shot from in-close. Ducas’s follow-up rebound hit the post and a Stingers defender was able to clear the zone.

In the 71st minute, the Carabins added their third and final goal. The ball made its way to Steffy Roy-Ouellet in the middle of the field. From 25 yards out, she fired a dipping shot over Dagenais and into the top corner of the goal.

Concordia played their best football in the final 15 minutes of play. Unfortunately, they could only manage weak shots towards the Montréal net.

The final whistle blew with the Carabins leaving with a deserved 3-0 clean sheet win.

Despite the Carabins breaking through the Stingers back line on multiple occasions, Stingers head coach Jorge Sanchez said the focus in this match was on the offence. He made some tactical changes, but admits his side was still weak in the attacking third.

“We could have come out and played very defensively, sat back, and taken away the flanks, but we wanted to go after them,” said Sanchez. “I told the team we’re playing to win every game.”

“I found we were able to bring the ball out of the back well,” he said. “We’re connecting well between the defenders and midfielders by not just kicking balls over the top. So now, the next part is obviously integrating the wingers and the forwards.”

Concordia will look to regroup next Saturday Feb. 16, against the UQÀM Citadins. The game will start at 4 p.m. at the Complexe Sportif Marie-Victorin.