Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
VICTORIA – They'd already had 12 days to stew on a tough loss to Alberta, so when the MacEwan Griffins women's soccer team just couldn't score in the first 72 odd minutes of Friday's match in Victoria, there was no panic.
They were used to being patient.
Grace Schimpf finally broke the ice in the 73rd and Maya Morrell added a 79th-minute insurance marker as the Griffins posted a 2-0 triumph over the Victoria Vikes.
Their first victory since beating Alberta in their Aug. 26 home opener pushes MacEwan's record to 2-1-0 on the season.
"We've had 12 days off between games and we wanted to get back on track quickly," said head coach Dean Cordeiro. "We knew it would be no easy task playing a quality side like UVic in their home opener ThunderFest event where there were 4,000 or 5,000 people. It was jam-packed. It was a great event and it's great just to see that much support for Canada West women's soccer.
"It was nice to get back in the win column today, for sure. I'm proud of the efforts of our side today."
For a while, it seemed like they'd never score, despite outplaying the Vikes. Morrell missed the net on a golden chance in the first half and Grace Mwasalla struck a great free kick that keeper Kayley Lidstone made a solid save on.
In the second half, both Morrell and Brenna Paquin hit the crossbar.
But finally, the Griffins broke through when half-time sub Schimpf took a pass from Erin Van Dolder and slotted it bottom right corner.
"It was great to see her impact in the match and the same goes for Mariah (Arnott) and Brenna Paquin," said Cordeiro. "All three came in at half-time and really gave us a lift."
Morrell scored the insurance marker on a nice ball played in by captain Hannah Supina. She turned the corner and finished with a left-footed strike.
"Maya Morrell was dominant all game long, making amazing runs and she played every position in our front four," said Cordeiro.
Hannah Supina runs down a ball during Friday's contest. She netted an assist on Maya Morrell's insurance marker (UVic Vikes photo).
Bianca Castillo earned the clean sheet with a four-save effort, while the game MVP honour for MacEwan went to defender Anneke Odinga.
"She was out of this world good," said Cordeiro. "She was driving play out of the back, creating overloads, shutting them down and just generating so much offence."
MacEwan has a quick turnaround to their next game – a Saturday night visit to undefeated UBC (6 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
The Thunderbirds now boast a 3-0-0 record after blanking Alberta 2-0 on Friday night.
"We're going to have to reset, recharge and refocus," said Cordeiro. "We'll be up for it. UBC's a great team and they're going to be ready for us.
"We're just going to enjoy what we accomplished on this bus ride, and I told the team once we get on that ferry (to Vancouver), we've got to switch gears now to UBC with everything and our mindset. We'll break down some film, come up with a plan.
"What I really liked about our side today is we're growing," he added. "We've got a lot of young pieces and we've got all of our positional players into the match today. It just shows our strength in numbers. We're excited for the opportunity to play UBC and we'll be ready for them."
