Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
-with files from Pronghorns Athletics
LETHBRIDGE – Just two games after tying the record for the most career Canada West game-winning goals in MacEwan women's soccer program history, Raeghan McCarthy broke it when she scored the Griffins' second tally of the game just 5:45 into Saturday's 4-1 win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
The seventh game-winner of her career snaps the mark she shared with Suekiana Choucair.
"Big game Rae," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro. "She always seems to score a timely goal. This one came early today.
"It's funny how quickly she tied (the record) and then broke it. It doesn't cease to amaze me. Rae's quality is showing. She's going to have a hell of a season and she's only getting started."
The victory was even more important for the Griffins, who bounced back nicely from a loss against Calgary last weekend. Ironically, MacEwan scored three goals off set pieces, a week after allowing three on them.
"I was very happy with our response today," said Cordeiro, whose team goes to 2-1-0 in the standings. "We had a dream start – two goals in the first seven minutes, ironically enough off a corner kick and a free kick. We worked on it this week and we ended up flipping the script in our favour, which is very nice."
Captain Samantha Gouveia opened the scoring just 3:33 into the game. On MacEwan's fourth-consecutive corner kick, she beat Pronghorns goalkeeper Erin Gill with a header.
McCarthy's goal came not long after as she took a short pass off a free kick from Erin Van Dolder, blasting a long-range shot to break the record.
A strong 60-70 km/h wind wreaked havoc with both teams' game plans, but the Griffins still managed to score two with the wind in their favour in the first half and two against it in the second.
"The game changed today," said Cordeiro. "It's nothing you can really prepare for. The only thing that helped us a bit is we were dealing with some winds in Edmonton the last few days of training – not quite to this extreme, but … were able to prepare playing with the wind and against the wind. I think those sessions helped us today.
"One of our key things was to dominate the possession arrow and be on the ball and we were able to accomplish that. I think that helped us dictate how the game was going to be played."
Lethbridge got on the board off a scrambled play 36th minute when Kaleigh Harris was the beneficiary of a loose ball , potting her first of the season for the Pronghorns to cut the deficit in half.
Goalkeeper Breanna Truscott, who made four saves, repelled some early second-half Pronghorns pressure before the Griffins got back on the attack.
In the 61st minute, Kaylin Hermanutz restored MacEwan's two-goal lead when she slotted a shot to the low corner off an Anna McPhee pass on another corner-kick play.
"Very happy with Anna McPhee," said Cordeiro. "It was her debut today. She had an injury that kept her out all of training camp and the first couple of games of the season. She jumped in and played a full 90 today – set up two of the goals off corners. She was a nice little veteran add to the lineup today."
In stoppage time, MacEwan upped its total to four on Grace Schimpf's first career Canada West goal and Taylor Sousa's first career assist.
Gouveia was named player of the game for the Griffins after a goal and a strong defensive effort.
"She had another solid 90-minute performance," said Cordeiro. "She kick-started things today, scoring a header off a corner-kick four minutes in and was just class all over the pitch today. She really helped settle things down and was our quarterback back there in our build-up phases."
MacEwan now heads to Calgary for a match against Mount Royal University on Sunday (1 p.m., Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
