Badgers women’s soccer lose 2-0 to Guelph despite glimpses of hope.
Homecoming weekend festivities and excitement in St. Catharines wasn’t enough to propel the Badgers women’s soccer team as they fell 2-0 to the Guelph Gryphons at Brock’s Alumni Field.
The Gryphons came into the matchup defeating the Waterloo Warriors in back-to-back games last weekend and carried that winning mindset into the game against Brock.
Right from the opening kickoff, Guelph showcased their dominance and tenacity, dominating possession and setting the tone early. Last years’ OUA West frontrunner asserted their supremacy in the midfield, winning loose balls and making it tough for the Badger forwards to break through into open space.
The midfield dominance carried right into the Gryphons’ opening goal.
In the 15th minute on a play that began with a goal kick, Guelph quickly and rather easily broke through the Brock press on just a few passes. The ball found the feet of a charging Olivia Stavropoulos who picked out forward Olivia Brown in space. The third-year Guelph-native made a nice spin move around her defender before unleashing a missile from 35 yards out over the outstretched arm of rookie keeper Shaelyn Mitchell; a reassemblage of Laurier’s opening goal last weekend against Brock.
Moments later, Guelph nearly doubled their lead on a close-ranged free kick from just outside of the 18-yard box. Sydney Vanderhoef sent her right-footed strike on target, which was headed over the bar by a leaping Grace Tawil to keep the deficit at one.
On the ensuing corner kick, first-year goalkeeper Mitchell was on hand to steer another booming shot away, making one of her five saves in the match keeping the game within reach.
It was only in the latter stages of the opening half that the Badgers began to generate some chances and momentum.
Bright spot Sabrina Bisante kickstarted the wave of Badgers positive play as she drew a free kick right outside of the Guelph box. The third-year teacher education major stepped up for the kick but disappointingly delivered the ball right into the Gryphon wall, which summed up the Badgers’ first half.
However, Brock came into the second half with more energy than the first and became more opportunistic for the equalizer.
At the onset of the second half, midfielder Cerrina Toromoreno’s through ball found a dashing Bisante whose strong first touch negated the scoring opportunity but began a string of positive play for the home team.
The Badgers’ best scoring chance came in the 54th minute off the laces of Toromoreno.
Strong midfield play found the feet of Bisante who dribbled the ball along the right touchline picking out Jenna Parris. Parris swiftly moved the ball to a sprinting Toromoreno whose first touch strike sailed onto the fingertips of Guelph keeper Sabrina Spano and tipped behind the net.
Spano’s four saves were crucial in keeping Guelph in the lead – a lead they then doubled.
Midway through the second half, a poor tackle on Tessa Ladhani by the Brock defender in the Badger box awarded the road team a penalty kick. Vanderhoef stepped up for the kick and buried it past a diving Mitchell in the bottom right corner.
The two Guelph goals, along with stellar performances in the Gryphon net and midfield, were too much for Brock to handle as they fell to 0-3-2 on the season.
Brock followed up the Guelph matchup with a 2-1 defeat to the Windsor Lancers on the road and will be eagerly searching for their first win of the season next weekend on Sept. 30th and Oct. 1st against the last-place Algoma Thunderbirds (0-7-0) at Alumni Field. More information regarding the Brock Badgers women’s soccer team can be found here.