On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with the sun glistening off the Terry Fox Field turf, the women’s soccer team lost 3–1 to the visiting Concordia Cavaliers. SFU and Concordia were third and second in the GNAC respectively, so with a win SFU would have been able to be level on points with Concordia. Unfortunately, a poor second half let the team down; the style in which Concordia played did not help the cause, either.
“I thought we played a team that didn’t play very nice soccer, but they wanted it,” said head coach Annie Hamel after the match. “They worked hard, they won the 50/50 [challenges], we didn’t match their physicality, and that ended up costing us. We’re too casual.”
It was a cagey start to the game until the 17th minute, where a long ball forward was controlled by Sydney Van Steenberge. She dribbled past the SFU defender and hit the ball past keeper Priya Sandhu for an early lead. Later in the 26th, SFU answered back. Off a corner kick, Carli Grosso was able to break free and head the ball in to tie the game up at 1–1. Christina Dickson had a chance to give her team the lead in the 32nd, but a bad touch let her down and the Concordia keeper made the easy save.
In the second half, Concordia tightened up their defence. No longer were the Clan able to make long runs like they did in the first half. The game-winner was scored in the 60th minute. A penalty was called against SFU for a push in the box, and Concordia player McKayla Madison made no mistake, burying it in the bottom right corner. Their second goal came just four minutes later; a cross from the right connected with Concordia’s Maddie Prehoda, and just squeaked over the line despite two SFU players trying to clear it. From there Concordia simply stayed back and played a very physical defensive game and held out for the win.
It was clear from the start that SFU was having trouble playing against a very well-organized Concordia side that, prior to this game, had not conceded in four straight games. “They’re young and they’ll learn,” said coach Hamel. “This game is played at a fast pace, you don’t always have time to be pretty on the ball and make decisions [. . .] you just gotta be willing to sacrifice.
“We didn’t do that today. We didn’t play as hard as they did and they got the win.”
The Clan’s next game will be on Thursday when they play St. Martin’s University.
