Recap The Court

Photo: Queen’s University Athletics

Jacob Smith

The fourth ranked Queen’s Gaels women’s soccer team travelled to Oshawa this afternoon for a match against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Ontario Tech coming off a record 12-0 victory over the RMC Paladins, came in at 3-1 and the Gaels 3-0.

Queen’s had won seven and lost eight of their last 15 matches against the Ridgebacks, the most recent one being on September 3rd, a 2-0 victory for the Gaels. In that game, Lily Goss and Leda Naihin scored for the Gaels, and the September 15th matchup went eerily similar.

The Gaels hit the Ridgebacks with relentless pressure from the opening of the game, and set a style where they would play through Leda Naihin and Seema Sakran down the left side looking for chances in front of the net.

Those chances came early as Leda Naihin scored for the Gaels to make it 1-0 not 4 minutes into the match. Just a few minutes later, a series of headers off a corner kick led to a Seema Sakran goal to make it 2-0 Gaels 11 minutes in.

From then on, the Gaels didn’t allow the Ridgebacks to get many chances, or even get the ball beyond the half for an extended period of time. Queen’s dominated the first half and went into the break with a 3-0 lead, looking to hold onto it for a victory and a 4-0 start to the season. Leda with the third goal at the 33 minute mark. Leda has scored five goals for the Gaels in their opening four games, scoring in every game.

The second half showcased the Ridgebacks keeper, Alicia Chisholm, trying to hold the Gaels lead to just three as the defensive lines tried anything to alleviate the pressure. Chisholm didn’t allow much across the box and off of clears from the keeper and the counter attack that provided, the Ridgebacks found some of their best opportunities, but they were unable to capitalize.

Queen’s picked off seemingly every Ridgebacks pass of more than 10 yards and Ontario Tech was stifled until the final buzzer unable to find any gaps.

The Gaels won 3-0 and are now 4-0 on the season with their next opponent being Trent on Sunday. The Ridgebacks after a 12-0 victory then a 3-0 loss, will travel to Nipissing tomorrow for a game against the Lakers looking to rebound.

Box score can be found here