Day 1 in the books

Day one is in the books at the ACAC women’s soccer championships, as a pair of number two seeds advanced to Saturday’s semi-finals.

The day’s opening match pitted the (#3 north) Grant MacEwan Griffins versus the (#2 south) Red Deer College Queens.

The Griffins started out as the aggressors early, pressing the Queens from the opening whistle.

It looked like the Griffins would get on the board first; as Jennie Perri rattled a shot off cross bar just 20 minutes in, on the game’s first great opportunity.

The Queens would start to pick up their play mid-way through the first-half, looking visibly more comfortable after shaking off the early rust.

After finding their legs, the Queens began to piece together their offense, passing and attacking with a raised leveled of confidence resulting in a number of quality opportunities.

Their efforts would pay dividends in the games 42nd minute, as rookie Claire Wallace took a nice one touch pass from a teammate and launched a beautifully placed shot into the top right corner of the net, beating a helpless Taylor Sarafinchan to send the Queens into the half up 1-0.

The second-half would be dominated by the Griffins, as the Queens seemed content to play with the lead and let their counterparts try and solve their stout defensive shell.

The Griffins would have their best opportunity at the 59 minute mark as they finally found a small crack in the Queens defense, firing a hard shot from outside the 18 yard box that that was punched away at the last second by the Queens’ Lauren Good.

Another quality ball would graze just past the left post at the 76 minute mark, as the Griffins continued to attack, but on this day, they would be held scoreless as the Queens would quell any last minute chances, walking away with the 1-0 final.

The afternoon’s second matchup saw the (#3 south) Medicine Hat Rattlers square off against the two-time defending champion (#2 north) Concordia Thunder.

The goals would come early and often for the Thunder, who looked impressive in handing the Rattlers their worst loss of the season 5-1.

Striker Lindsay Boland was remarkable, scoring three goals, including two in the first-half alone.

Boland opened up the game with a goal just six minutes in, as a pretty tick-tack-toe passing play left her speeding down the middle of the field with a pair of defenders. Showing impressive strength and ball control, Boland outworked the Rattler defenders and converted a ball low for the 1-0 lead.

Things wouldn’t get any better for the Rattlers, as just 15 minutes later, the Thunder were back on the board, as this time it was Erika Vecchio tallied the marker.

Boland would add her second of the match as high bouncing ball got past the Rattler defense, leaving Boland in behind the final defender where she converted a nice header off the bounce making it 3-0 before the half.

Boland would tally again in the games 60th minute to make it 4-0, before teammate Briony Buchanan would get in on the action, adding her third of the season to all but put the game out of reach at 5-0.

The Rattlers would find some hope, as Kristina Segall would finally solve the Thunder’s back-end, adding Medicine Hat’s only goal at the 68th minute.

The final score would read 5-1 as the Thunder continued their quest for a third straight ACAC championship.

With the wins, here’s a look at how’s Saturday’s semi-finals will shape up:

Saturday, October 29 -
12:00 p.m. - Red Deer Queens vs. NAIT Ooks
2:00 p.m. - Concordia Thunder - vs. Mount Royal University Cougars

Sunday, October 30 -
12:00 p.m. - Loser game 3 - vs. Loser game 4 (Bronze Medal Match)
2:00 p.m. - Winner game 3 - vs. Winner game 4 (Gold Medal Match)

Elsewhere, the Cougar men will be moving onto the semi-final after defeating the Concordia Thunder 2-0.

With the win, the Cougars move onto Saturday’s matchup with the host NAIT Ooks with a spot to Sunday’s final up for grabs.

The Ooks are 8-0-2 on the season, but will be in tough against an always formidable Cougars side.

Best of luck boys!