Emily Brown leads Hawks in dominant play

It’s not very often you get to witness the kind of performance that Wilfrid Laurier’s Emily Brown put on this past weekend for the women’s soccer team.

The third-year forward scored seven goals in two games, leading her team to victory against the Waterloo Warriors and Windsor Lancers. Brown began her dominant weekend on Friday night by scoring all five goals in a 5-0 dismantling of the Waterloo Warriors.

The accomplishment set a new Golden Hawk record for most goals in a game, with the next closest coming from Tammy Scurr, who scored four in 2003.

With her formidable performance over the weekend, Brown was named Laurier’s athlete of the week and the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) athlete of the week.

Despite the record-breaking performance, Brown declined to single herself out and preferred to focus on the team’s accomplishment.

“Our team really needed the win. In the past few games we have given it up in the last few minutes,” she said. “This is a real confidence booster for us.”

The game saw a much more passionate Golden Hawk team than previous weeks, as they pressured the Warriors relentlessly. Laurier’s Suzanne Boroumand, Kiara Reyes and Katie Bishop dominated the midfield as they forced numerous turnovers, which sprung the Golden Hawk attack. Goalkeeper Maggie Carmichael saved all four shots she faced for her fourth career shutout as a Hawk. The win ended Laurier’s two-game winless skid.

The Hawks’ second game of the weekend saw them facing a stronger opponent in the Windsor Lancers. However, Laurier picked up where they left off and were quick to overwhelm the Lancer defence with a goal from Julie Maheu in the 15th minute.

The Golden Hawks controlled the majority of possession and the few Lancer attacks that arose were quickly extinguished by defenders Amanda Mithrush and Jackie Normandeau.

Laurier’s next goal came in the 44th minute from a corner that was headed in by Boroumand, who shook off an injury to score the goal. Brown continued her amazing weekend in the second, potting the last two goals to seal the victory.

Another player who was fundamental in the Laurier victory was rookie midfielder Jessica Craig, who created numerous scoring opportunities and assisted on Brown’s two goals.

The successful weekend was a positive sign for head coach Barry MacLean.

“We played more of our style this weekend, we kept possession of the ball for long stretches of time in both games,” he said.

“I was happy with the overall performance.”

As for Brown, her seven-goal weekend propelled her to second  in the OUA scoring race with 11 goals and trails Ottawa Gee-Gees’ Pilar Khoury by only one goal.

Brown will be looking to repeat her top-goal scorer performance from last year when she had 15 goals in 16 games.

MacLean had plenty of praise for his top scorer, “She was fantastic and her finishing was exceptional.”

The two wins keep Laurier, who holds a 6-2-3 record, in sole possession of third place with 21 points. It tightens the gap with the top two teams, Western  and Guelph, who have 23 and 22 points, respectively.

Brown and the Golden Hawks will look to continue their exceptional play on Oct. 12 as they go on the road to play the York Lions. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.