Women’s soccer struggles but survives after challenging weekend
Maclaine Chadwick | Fulcrum Staff
AS THEIR SEASON progresses, the women’s soccer team is facing more and more challenges on the field. Last weekend’s highly successful doubleheader against the Ryerson University Rams and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues brought the Gee-Gee’s to the number one spot in Ontario University Athletics (OUA), but the Gee’s had a tough time maintaining their reign after taking on the Nipissing University Lakers and the Laurentian University Voyageurs.
Gee-Gee’s 3, Nipissing 0
A rainy start to the first half of the Nipissing game didn’t completely flood the spirit of our Gee’s, who ended up scoring all three goals before halftime. Pilar Khoury got on the scoreboard first at the 34:00 mark, with Corina Jarett scoring shortly after. Khoury then scored the third and final goal of the game with less than five minutes left in the first half.
The second half of the game was all about exercising new players while maintaining the lead for the Gee’s, who were resting the starters for the next afternoon’s game against Laurentian. Players like defender Chiara Quadri were rotated to different positions to work on versatility. “We scored three in the first half and we were able to make changes because I wanted to see a lot of different players in today’s game,” said head coach Steve Johnson.
Despite their 3-0 win, the Gee’s struggled in the downpour and weren’t playing at their normal skill level. “I don’t think we performed that well,” noted Johnson after the game. “Hopefully when we go against Laurentian we’ll be fresh and able to put in a better performance than we did today.”
Gee-Gee’s 0, Laurentian 0
Sunday’s match pitted the top two OUA teams against each other in the Gee’s first scoreless game of the season. Their weather cooperated for their second game of the weekend, in which the Gee’s decided to rest their starters.
Two strong offensive lines made for great scoring opportunities for both teams, but neither the Voyageurs nor the Gee-Gee’s could get a shot past the skilled goaltenders. Goalie Alexandra Girouard defended the Gee’s shutout streak, which is up to five consecutive games this season—or seven games if you include the end of the 2011 season.
“This team was really physical compared to the other teams that we’ve played,” said fifth-year striker Tessa Dimitrakopolous. “They’re big and strong. We could have played better but it was a different challenge…At least we got a tie against them. ”
Despite outshooting Laurentian, the Gee’s were unable to pull off a win. However, they managed to maintain their spot atop the OUA standings, and even moved up to the number one spot in Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) rankings.
Check out the next home game on Sept 26 at 7:00pm against the Royal Military College of Canada.
