Gee-Gees stun champs

Victory over RMC overshadowed by humbling 3-0 defeat

Ottawa native Laura Callender challenges for the ball against a Gee-Gees opponent.
Image by: Tiffany Lam
Ottawa native Laura Callender challenges for the ball against a Gee-Gees opponent.

The women’s soccer team received an early wakeup call on Wednesday.

The nationally number one ranked Gaels dropped a 3-0 decision to the Ottawa Gee-Gees, last year’s CIS bronze medalists.

Ottawa controlled the field throughout most of the 90 minutes, peppering Queen’s goalkeeper Sabrina Carew with eight shots and hitting the crossbar on three occasions.

Julia Francki booted a pair of goals, putting the Gee-Gees on the board late in the first half with a sliding kick that just eluded Carew. Francki’s second goal was a 40-yard blast into the top corner of the goal.

Gaels co-captain Chantal McFetridge praised the Gee-Gees for their great execution, but said her team needs to adjust their level of play.

“We need to rethink some things we are doing and get back to playing our style,” she said.

Sloppy passing limited the Gaels, who registered just two shots on goal. The loss was their fourth in the last three seasons.

Gaels head coach Dave McDowell was disappointed by the loss, but is maintaining an optimistic outlook for the rest of the season.

“We knew they were going to be a challenge — they’ve got a strong program,” McDowell said. “It was a tough day, but hopefully a good learning experience for us in terms of where we need to be and build on.”

High-scoring strikers Jackie Tessier and Breanna Burton were subbed off early in the second half after receiving some knocks. half after receiving some knocks. McDowell then went with one striker and five in the midfield.

“We have seven or eight players who haven’t played in a long time and were in full building mode,” he said. “It’s a long season.”

The result happened just days after the Gaels crushed the Royal Military College 6-0 in their season opener. The Gaels led 5-0 at halftime, outshooting the Paladins 20-2. It gave McDowell a chance to see certain newcomers perform.

“The recruits are looking good. A lot of them will be making impacts right away.”

First-year striker Jennifer Siu tallied two goals against RMC, while Burton, Tessier and Riley Filion also scored in the rout.

The Gaels will face the winless Ryerson Rams on Sept. 8, followed by a match against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Sept. 9. Both games start at 1:00 P.M.

­— With files from Peter Morrow

Tags

McDowell, McFetridge, Ottawa, Queen's, Women's soccer

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content