When there’s something wrong in your neighbourhood don’t call the Dinos women’s soccer team. Sometimes they’re bloody effective, but sometimes, they beat on their foes for 90 minutes and still manage to lose.
Such was the case when the Dinos took on the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta on Thu., Oct. 3 and Sat., Oct. 5. The Dinos bulldozed the hapless Huskies 4-0, but lost 1-0 to the hated Pandas just two days later. Against Sask, they were scoring like Hugh Hefner in sorority house. Against Alberta, it was reminiscent of Snoop Doggy Dogg at a NASCAR event.
“It’s just one of those things you can’t explain,” said Head Coach Robin “Slot Machine” Slot. “We played very well against Saskatchewan and quite well against Alberta in the second half. Sometimes, we just need to be more committed to scoring.”
Calgary ravaged the Huskies with two goals from super-rookie Steph Hoogveld, one from midfielder Jessica Horning and one from veteran Hema Chengkalath.
“We killed them,” enthused defender Stephanie Bourigault who was steady as a rock in both games. “We took all our opportunities. It was ‘tic-tac’–everything we worked on all year came together.”
“We did everything right in that game,” added defender Erin Ramsay who returned from injury for the first time this season. “Everything just clicked.”
Two days later, things stopped clicking. The Dinos played extremely well, but did not score. What resulted was a frustrating 1-0 defeat. Kristie Tokunaga scored on a second-half free kick which was mishandled by Calgary keeper Charlotte Sullivan.
“It was their only shot on net,” said a disappointed Bourigault. “A loss like that tends to just fire us up. We’re very upset right now.”
“That free kick was horrible,” added Ramsay. “Now we’re really pumped up to play UBC and Victoria. We want to knock the U of A out of the playoffs really bad.”
The Dinos next challenge will arrive from the West Coast when the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and the Victoria
Vikes come to town Oct. 19-20.
Only time will tell which Calgary team shows up.
G-G-G-Goal Notes:
In the Alberta game, defender Erin Ramsay hit striker Steph Hoogveld with a shot that Ramsay insists was going in.
Hoogveld (wide-eyed): “Why don’t you write about how I scored two goals.”
Ramsay (sneering): “Against Sask…”
Bourigault (laughing): “Write how she saved one too.”
Dinos midfielder Matt Houston is not as popular anymore after his team lost 6-0 to Alberta.
“But he’s still number one in my books,” enthused Bourigault.
Charlotte Sullivan moves up to fourth in my World Goalie Rankings displacing injured teammate Taryn Swiatek. Sullivan is clearly better than the knee-less Swiatek.