Tigers upset top-seeded Panthers to win championship
November 6, 2011
Having to take the long route to the Subway AUS women’s soccer championship title, the Dalhousie Tigers would cap off their weekend with a 2-0 victory over the top-seeded UPEI Panthers in Sunday’s final at BMO Centre in Fredericton, NB.
The Panthers and Tigers would play a scoreless first half, although the Tigers controlled the possession, keeping the Panthers in their own end.
In the second half the Tigers came out flying, with Emma Landry scoring in the 46th minute to put Dalhousie up 1-0.
The Panthers would put together a few chances as they tried to rebound from the Tigers goal, but Dalhousie continued to dominate the number of chances in the game forcing Chanelle Roy to make multiple saves.
With minutes remaining the Panthers would push all the players up the field, pushing for the equalizer. In extra time with a free kick deep in Tigers territory Roy would move to the Dalhousie end as an extra body.
This move would not be enough as the Tigers cleared the ball down the field with Joanna Blodgett rushing down the field to tap the ball into an empty goal.
Blodgett’s goal would put the game out of reach as they now led 2-0.
“We had a lot of faith in these girls, they were young when they came here, but we have a team that bonds and everything all year has been really positive,” said Dalhousie head coach Jack Hutchinson. “They have taken their loses well and taken the ups and downs well. They’ve kept it all together.”
“I just felt I was in a good spot (Friday) in relation to how the girls were coming into this and nobody was putting everything on the line like ‘this is my life or anything’. It was important, they wanted it and you can see their excitement. It was just where they were.”
Hutchinson is proud of how his team improved steadily throughout the season.
“We said this at the beginning of the year. We have around 50 per cent of our team that are first-year players,” he said. “We just kept getting better and better and we were happy about that. It was just getting through that first game (Friday vs. UNB), which I didn’t think was really pretty, but I thought we just played some good football and just got better and better.”
The Panthers and Tigers would play a scoreless first half, although the Tigers controlled the possession, keeping the Panthers in their own end.
In the second half the Tigers came out flying, with Emma Landry scoring in the 46th minute to put Dalhousie up 1-0.
The Panthers would put together a few chances as they tried to rebound from the Tigers goal, but Dalhousie continued to dominate the number of chances in the game forcing Chanelle Roy to make multiple saves.
With minutes remaining the Panthers would push all the players up the field, pushing for the equalizer. In extra time with a free kick deep in Tigers territory Roy would move to the Dalhousie end as an extra body.
This move would not be enough as the Tigers cleared the ball down the field with Joanna Blodgett rushing down the field to tap the ball into an empty goal.
Blodgett’s goal would put the game out of reach as they now led 2-0.
“We had a lot of faith in these girls, they were young when they came here, but we have a team that bonds and everything all year has been really positive,” said Dalhousie head coach Jack Hutchinson. “They have taken their loses well and taken the ups and downs well. They’ve kept it all together.”
“I just felt I was in a good spot (Friday) in relation to how the girls were coming into this and nobody was putting everything on the line like ‘this is my life or anything’. It was important, they wanted it and you can see their excitement. It was just where they were.”
Hutchinson is proud of how his team improved steadily throughout the season.
“We said this at the beginning of the year. We have around 50 per cent of our team that are first-year players,” he said. “We just kept getting better and better and we were happy about that. It was just getting through that first game (Friday vs. UNB), which I didn’t think was really pretty, but I thought we just played some good football and just got better and better.”