Soccer-Martlets 4, Concordia 0: McGill rolls on to the conference playoffs
A roller coaster regular season ended at its peak on Sunday as
the McGill Martlets defeated the Concordia Stingers 4-0 at
Concordia Stadium. The Martlets' win was their fifth in a row-their
longest winning streak of the season-and vaulted them into the
Quebec conference playoffs, where they'll face the top-ranked
University of Montreal Carabins. The victory improved the Martlets'
record to 9-4-1 and secured them a fourth-place finish in the
Quebec conference. Concordia finished in seventh place at
1-11-2.
"With the game being the last game of the season, that gave us some
motivation," said Martlets Captain Tania Giannone. "We came
together and made sure that we played a good game in preparation
for the upcoming playoffs."
A dominant victory
The Stingers managed very few quality scoring opportunities, and
only once did the ball have a real chance of hitting the back of
the net. Midway through the first half, with the score at 0-0,
Stinger defender Andrea Davidson took a free kick from just outside
the McGill box which sent Martlet goalkeeper Anne-Catherine Huot
diving to her left. Huot barely got her fingertips on the ball,
which sailed wide of the goal. The Martlets took over from that
point on, squashing the Stingers' hopes for an upset.
Rookie forward Alexandra Morin-Boucher was the star for the
Martlets. She came off the bench soon after the free kick and
immediately put her stamp on the game. With 13 minutes left in the
first half, Morin-Boucher took a centering pass in the Stingers'
box, and forced a Stinger to pull her to the ground while dribbling
towards free space. Midfielder Vanessa Salasky converted the
ensuing penalty kick to open the scoring for McGill.
Morin-Boucher struck again three minutes later, taking a beautiful
long pass on the left side field, just outside the Stingers' box.
As defenders rushed at her from the side, Concordia goalkeeper
Fanny Berthiaume made the mistake of charging at Morin-Boucher, who
calmly lofted the ball over the netminder's head. Berthiaume
changed direction, but to no avail, as the ball bounced four times
before crossing the goal line.
"With her speed, she offers us a lot more options," said McGill
Head Coach Marc Mounicot of the prized rookie forward, who could
not play for the full 90 minutes all season due to an Achilles
injury. "She had a good season, but she should have a better one
next year."
With six goals this season, Morin-Boucher is tied for the lead
among rookies, and sits fourth overall in the Quebec conference
scoring race. The freshman sniper also helped set up the Martlets'
other two goals against Concordia. She was fouled in the box 15
minutes into the second half, which led to a Magalie Kolker penalty
goal-her eighth of the season. With 20 minutes remaining,
Morin-Boucher dribbled through the defence, charged at Berthiaume,
and fired a shot that the keeper couldn't handle. The rebound came
right to forward Christina Di Caprio, who made no mistake in
blasting the ball past Berthiaume's outstretched arms.
Picking up steam
The Martlets have underachieved for much of the season, and at one
point seemed in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time
in team history. But the squad is coming together at the right
time, and is on a roll heading into the playoffs. The Martlets have
won seven of their last eight games, including a 2-0 home victory
over the University of Montreal on October 17-the Carabins' lone
loss this season.
"In the past five or six games, we've really picked it up," said
Salasky. "We've finally gotten some momentum and started
clicking."
Though they will be underdogs against Montreal, the Martlets are
confident that holding a victory in the last meeting between the
two teams will help give them the upper hand.
"We're expecting a pretty rough game," said Giannone of the
upcoming semifinal, to be played this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at CEPSUM
sports complex. "But we're going to go in with the same spirit, the
same mental strength, and the same tactical strategy [as we did in
our last game]."