By: Aliocha Perriard-Abdoh
Even though the SFU women’s soccer team scored very early on in the game last Friday, it still wasn’t enough to beat the Stanislaus State Warriors.
Sophomore Emma Pringle scored in the first three minutes of the first half with a clean shot on net from just inside the box. She landed the ball in the upper right corner and there was really nothing the Stanislaus goalkeeper could do about it. The assist was made by senior midfielder Mikaela Guerreiro as she lobbed the ball right onto Pringle’s feet. Pringle was more than ready to take the shot; this is Pringle’s third goal in just as many games.
Pringle made a few more good attempts during the game, having five shots in total, three of which were saved by the opposing team’s goalie, Haley Crook. Just as Pringle left her mark on the game by scoring SFU’s only goal of the game, so did Crook. She deflected four opportunities to score from the Clan and proved to be a very difficult opponent to beat.
The first half ended with the Clan in the lead with a score of 1–0. The Clan held onto their one goal advantage till the 58th minute. Up until then, the game stayed pretty even between both teams. It was Shawna McLaughlin from Stanislaus who was able to break the ice for her team by scoring on SFU goalkeeper Priya Sandhu.
Sandhu played a strong game as well, doing her best to deflect the shots streaming in from the Stanislaus Warriors. Sandhu saved eight attempts on net from the other team. In the second half of the game, Stanislaus came to play and really brought their best to the field as the Warriors were more assertive than Clan players.
Stanislaus had a total of 15 shots during the game (11 of which were on the goal), while SFU only had 10 shots (five of which were on the goal). During the 85th minute of the game Jade Poon from Stanislaus scored another goal by redirecting the ball in the penalty box past goalkeeper Priya Sandhu.
Simon Fraser trailed Stanislaus by just one goal, with the score being only 2–1, however they lost their chance to equalize the game, when a handball was called against the Clan inside the penalty box. Poon of Stanislaus took the shot and scored the team’s third and final goal of the match.
The final score was 3–1 for Stanislaus. The Warriors go on unbeaten in their fourth non-conference game of the season, while the Clan are now 2–1. This is only SFU’s third non-conference game of the season.
The Clan will have another chance to capture a win for SFU on September 10 against Westminster College.
