Women's Soccer All Even With Pilots, Except The Score
Providence striker Makayla Myer proved to be the difference between two evenly matched teams on Saturday afternoon, as the Pilots handed CMU a 3-0 defeat at the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex. The speedy striker broke through the young Blazer's backline in the 4th, 23rd and 36th minute to give the away team a three goal halftime lead, while rookie goalkeeper Kara Kamai stopped all 13 shots she faced to collect her first MCAC shutout.
Other than the goals, CMU and Providence played a very back and forth 90 minutes. Each team managed 13 shots on target while the Blazers held a 19:16 edge in shot attempts. Kamai held a slight advantage over CMU's Lydia Balsillie, saving all 13 shots while the veteran Blazers' goalkeeper managed to keep all 10 shots out of her goal, conceding only the 3 Myer-goals scored from first half breakaways. Both team committed 4 fouls through the fairly-played match while CMU held the Pilots to only 1 cornerkick to the 3 the home team earned.
A halftime adjustment saw CMU shift from 4 defenders in the backline to 3 playing more centrally. The defensive tactic immediately plugged the holes Myer's speed exposed as the combined pace of Ezri Trump, Tiegan Kroeker and Kirsten Warkentin took the breakaway threat out of the game. The best chance for the Blazers to find a goal came in the 82nd minute when second-half substitute Jess Edel dribbled through a Providence defender sending striker Alyssa Patterson in on Kamai but the rookie Hapnot Collegiate product coudn't quite find the finishing touch to put the Blazers on the scoreboard.
"All in all, we are pretty happy with what we saw," said head coaches Lianna Bestvater and Cara Isaak of Saturday's performance. "For us, this was as much about seeing what we have in a game situation, moving players around and finding out more about ourselves. We have a really solid group of players and more depth than we expected so the future looks bright and we're excited to see these players progress as we get better each week."
On Sunday, Providence hosted USB dropping their first Women's Soccer regular seasno home game by a final score of 5-2, ending their weekend with one win and one loss.
CMU travels to Alberta next weekend for a pair of friendlies against ACAC opponents to fulfill their 2019 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association probationary-status commitments. The Blazers are in Medicine Hat on Saturday afternoon to battle the MHC Rattlers and then on Sunday, CMU visit Lethbridge for a date with the Lethbridge College Kodiaks. Both teams compete in the ACAC's South Division.
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