MacEwan Athletics and Pronghorns Athletics
LETHBRIDGE – Against the wind and down a goal, the MacEwan Griffins turned to forward Salma Kamel to save them from an upset defeat on a cold, blustery Saturday afternoon of Canada West women's soccer action at the University of Lethbridge.
The third-year speedster scored twice in the second half as the Griffins rallied back for a 2-1 victory that keeps alive their hopes of earning a home playoff game.
"She's in great form," said MacEwan head coach Dean Cordeiro. "She's been buzzing. Last weekend she scored in consecutive games, as well. That gives her four goals in the past three matches."
Kamel first scored in the 55th minute when she took Jamie Erickson's free kick, beat a defender and slipped it past Pronghorns keeper Hanna Quinn.
After almost scoring again in the 67th minute when her blast went off Quinn's fingertips and hit the crossbar, Kamel eventually potted the game-winner in the 79th when she took a Suekiana Choucair through ball, played it wide, ran onto it and snuck it past the keeper.
"Her execution of runs, when to make the runs and when she's getting beyond, she's finishing everything right now, which is great to see," said Cordeiro. "She's been really snake-bitten over the last little bit. She's been playing really well for us. We told her last weekend, once she got that first goal, now they're going to come in bunches.
"You never expect three consecutive games and four goals, but that's what has occurred."
THE Pronghorns generated the first good scoring chance 10 minutes into the game, when Raeleen Vanden Dungen latched onto a through ball and just missed the far post with a low shot.
MacEwan's best chance of the opening half came in the 26th minute. Samantha Gouveia hit a hard shot from 35-yards out forcing Quinn to be on her toes and punch it over the crossbar.
Shot attempts in the opening 45-minutes favoured the Griffins seven to three. The Griffins hit the net three times, while the Pronghorns forced Burns to make two saves.
Early in the second half, Lethbridge opened the scoring off a corner-kick in the 47th minute when Grace Taylor located the ball in a scramble and found the back of the net behind Emily Burns.
The Griffins didn't panic, though, relying on what got them here to rally back for their eighth win of the season.
"There's a lot of belief in this group," said Cordeiro. "We've had some setbacks in a couple of games this year where we've conceded a goal against the run of play a little bit."
"We didn't expect to be behind, but that happened early in the second half. Lethbridge made some good adjustments and they played a very good game.
"So we went down one and we said 'there's going to be those peaks and valleys in matches, you've just got to stay with it.' We made a couple of tactical changes shortly thereafter that kind of gave us a spark after we got the first goal. It gave us the momentum."
The Griffins were buzzing late, again relying on their will to never stop running. They pressured and pestered the Pronghorns until the final whistle sounded on their victory.
"We really worked hard on our fitness this year and ensuring that we can close out games and be a team that in the 70th, 80th, 90th minute are really putting it on the opponent," said Cordeiro. "I felt today, the same thing. The last 20 minutes, we felt the field was sloped pretty good. We were in their end generating chances. (In extra time), they threw everything but the kitchen sink at us but we were able to hold them off."
The loss drops the Pronghorns to 1-9-1 and dampers the Pronghorns chance of an appearance in the post-season.
Entering the weekend, the Pronghorns trail the Regina Cougars by three points for the final spot in the Prairie Division.
The victory brings MacEwan's record to 8-2-1, keeping pace with UBC (9-2-0), who also won on Saturday, and Trinity Western (10-1-0), who were embroiled in a battle with MRU at time of writing, in a tight race for top spot in the Pacific Division.
