Women’s soccer kept their unbeaten season alive Thursday night with freshman forward Christine Dickson scoring the only goal in a 1–0 contest against the Central Washington Wildcats in front of 147 fans at Terry Fox Field.
Going into the game, SFU had two wins and two ties, with their only conference game being a 0–0 tie last week against Seattle Pacific. There was some concern considering the women’s team jumped out of the gate last season with two straight wins early in the season, only to lose every other game of the season.
“First and foremost, we’re super happy we got a win,” said assistant coach Anna Picarelli. “We were really scared we would have a two-win block and that would be our forever-most wins in a season, but we got the win, the girls fought it out, we get the clean sheet so we can’t be anything but happy with the result.”
Despite solid chances for both teams, the first half was a scoreless affair. A well-timed tackle by junior defender Teagan Rae Sorokan to force a corner 20 minutes in helped SFU keep the game 0–0. For much of the half, the Clan dominated possession; however, a few defensive lapses gave the Wildcats solid breakaway chances.
It would be SFU’s leading scorer Christina Dickson who ended the standstill with just over 24 minutes left in the second, tapping in a rebound. Dickson is the team’s leading scorer with three goals and an assist in five games in her inaugural season. Her twin sister, Allyson, is second in team scoring with a goal and an assist.
“When we were looking at [Christina] as a recruit, we knew that’s what she had to offer already and now we’re just happy to see it transition into playing here,” said Picarelli. “She’s just a competitor. I mean, this girl’s not going to stop at anything. We love to see that she’s getting in on the end of goals, and hopefully [she] just gets more and more every game.”
SFU held the lead for the rest of the game, but not without a few scares. Central Washington seemed to take it to another gear, nearly tying up the game, if not for the work of second-year goalkeeper Priya Sandhu.
Christina Dickson nearly had a second goal in the 84th minute; however, it was comfortably palmed away by the Wildcat goalkeeper.
Picarelli believes that despite the solid start to the season — the third win is the most for the women’s soccer season since 2010 — the team still has a lot to work on.
“I think they’re still getting used to staying composed no matter what the scoreline is,” she said. “The other thing they need to work on is, judging by our score lines, is getting more goals, getting a bit of an easier win as opposed to, ‘Oh my gosh, two minutes are left, are we still going to hold it out?’
“I think that’s going to be our big focus — putting things away.”
