Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – First-year Griffins Grace Mwasalla, Alyx Henderson and Nikki Brodeur put exclamation points on the most lopsided Canada West victory in MacEwan Griffins women's soccer history with two goals each in an 8-0 win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Saturday.
The crazy thing is the score was still 0-0 just four minutes short of half-time as the Griffins went unrewarded on eight-straight corner kicks.
But after Meagan Lemoine opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, the floodgates opened for the home side to go on a romp for their seventh-straight win that pushes them to 8-1-0 and atop the Canada West Central Division standings.
"You just have to trust the process," said head coach Dean Cordeiro. "We liked our start, we had a goal disallowed early on – which was a close call. I liked our game. We stayed with it. We're always of the mindset if you play the game the right way and do the things the way you should, the goals will come. Sure enough, they came in bunches today."
Salma Kamel made it 2-0 before half-time when she was played in on the left by Maya Morrell and chipped it past Lethbridge goalkeeper Bridie Harding.
But the game really reached blowout status when Nikki Brodeur and Mwasalla came in as half-time subs. Brodeur made it 3-0 in the 57th minute when she beat the defence on the right side, walked the line and drilled a sharp-angle shot past Harding.
In the 63rd, Brodeur played a great cross into the box and Mwasalla made no mistake, heading home MacEwan's fourth of the contest.
Before long, it was Henderson's turn as she scored her first career Canada West goal in the 73rd on a breakaway where Harding stopped her first attempt but not the rebound.
Cue up Mwasalla's turn in the 75th as this time she headed in a cross coming from the left off the boot of Anna McPhee.
Brodeur scored her second of the contest in the 85th on a tap in after Morrell's great slash into the area
Finally, Henderson capped the record-breaking day when she jumped on a rebound in a scramble deep in the box.
MacEwan's goal total wasn't the only record to come out of the contest. Mwasalla, Brodeur and Henderson all tied the program's rookie single game goals mark (2), while Brodeur and Henderson also tied MacEwan's rookie single game points record (3).
"They both came into the game … and put their stamp on the match," said Cordeiro. "Just the way we were attacking in waves, it was next person up mentality. We had five different goal scorers today and the reason why we've been so successful early on is it's someone else on any given day stepping up.
"Today, fortunately for us, we had many people stepping up. We're going to enjoy it, but we've got to reset and refocus for tomorrow. It's going to be a very important game for us and we've got to make sure we take care of another 90-minute fixture."
Kaylin Hermanutz was named player of the game for the Griffins after directing the attack from midfield (Tia Schram photo).
Cordeiro chose Kaylin Hermanutz as his player of the game.
"Kaylin connects everything in midfield," he said. "She was excellent, getting on the ball, linking up passes. If they track second passes, she would have had a few today. High success rate of passes, winning balls and really kick-starting our play – our QB back there, if you will."
Also of note, Lemoine's game-winning goal in the contest was the seventh of her career, tying her with Raeghan McCarthy for the most in the program's Canada West history. And Morrell tied the program record for most assists in a game (2).
The Griffins will host the Pronghorns again on Sunday (12 p.m., Clarke Stadium, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
