Women's Saturday Soccer Recap
Not much settled in the PACWEST standings following a pair women's soccer games on Saturday
VIU Mariners 2 – Langara Falcons 0
For the third time this season the Mariners and keeper Kaiden Thorpe record a clean sheet over the Falcons in Nanaimo.
On Saturday afternoon it was all Mariners, and they scored very early to take the lead with a goal that would stand up as the game winner in the seventh minute. Emma Thornton began a rush on her side of half as she got the ball in the middle of the field. She was able to fend off a Falcons’ midfielder and send a through ball right down the middle where Jada Kamerman showed an impressive burst of speed getting past the backline defender and all the way into the 18-yard box. With the keeper coming out to challenge, Kamerman made a nifty tap move to her left, avoiding the sliding keeper with a ball that carried right into the open net for her fourth goal of the season.
In the 30th minute, the Mariners would strike again on a beautiful corner kick. With the ball lifted into the air from the corner, Hannah Wagner showed her leaping ability and got above four Falcons defenders to head the ball into the net to give the top seed a cushion the rest of the way.
Keeper Kaiden Thorpe wasn’t really tested and made two saves for her sixth clean sheet on the season, and third in a row.
With the win the Mariners inch a bit closer to clinching first place in the Conference. With a win or tie on Sunday in the rematch, they will clinch a bye into the PACWEST gold medal game. Sunday’s matchup kicks off on the Island at 12:30pm. WATCH HERE
Douglas Royals 2 – Capilano Blues 2
Not much was settled as far as the PACWEST women’s soccer standings are concerned as the Royals and Blues played a tie on Saturday afternoon in Coquitlam.
The hometown Royals opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first half in the 33rd minute. After a Royals corner kick bounced off several players, the ball came to the top of the 18-yard box where Lucie Baker was waiting to redirect a shot towards the net that somehow got past a diving Rachel Laakmann and into the back of the net.
It was all the scoring either team could record in the first half with Laakmann making three saves while her counterpart Vanessa Chung at the other end made two.
The Blues finally found the equalizer in the 66th minute thanks to some excellent pressure in the Royals’ end. Following a steal by Kaitlyn Kendall, her seeing eye pass got across the pitch through three Royals defenders landing on the right foot of Sasha Faris who carried the ball into box before unleashing a low shot to the far post past Chung.
In the 74th minute Talia Trasolini gave the Royals their second lead in the contest. Off another Royals corner kick, there was a scramble in front of the Blues net that bounced right to Trasolini, standing almost on the goal line, who just needed a tap it in for her first of the season.
Despite falling behind again, the Blues didn’t quit and found the game’s tying goal in the 82nd minute. Sophie Pather sprinted past the Royals backline after a lead pass got through and just snuck her shot under Chung who was diving to her left. It’s a shot Chung would like to have back after getting a piece of it, but not enough as it rolled across the goal line to tie it.
The game would finish in a 2-2 score which changes nothing in the standings. The Royals remain in third place, four points up on the Blues for the final playoff spot.
The scene shifts to Capilano for Sunday’s rematch at 12:00pm. WATCH HERE