Coming off of two straight wins last weekend versus Algoma, the Golden Hawks came out looking to get a third straight and continue their high level of play against the McMaster Marauders.
On a day where the weather was favouring nobody, the women put on one of their best performances of the season to date.
McMaster would come out strong, managing to get a couple of shots on goal within the first couple of minutes of the game but by the five-minute mark, the game was delayed due to lightning in the area.
After a half-hour delay – with the weather clearing up – both squads would make their way back to the field to resume play.
The Marauders would continue holding onto the momentum until they ended up scoring on their own net in minute 39. The credit would go to Maxine Murchie, pushing her season total to four.
From there on, Laurier would take over momentum as McMaster nearly put in another own-goal and the Hawks started to create more chances.
“There was a heavy wind and we were playing into it and we chose to do that because we wanted to deal with the wind in the first half,” head coach, Barry MacLean said.
“So, we were more than happy to concede possession and let them come at us, we didn’t wanna break defensively and hit them on any kind of counters we got and we were lucky we got one. We almost got a second in that same situation.”
The arrival of the second half would show the Golden Hawks putting on display the type of offensive firepower that MacLean expects.
“I think, for me, this is the first time we played 90 minutes, where everybody committed to their role for the full 90 minutes and I thought at times we looked really good and very dangerous going forward and we finished chances which was great.”
By minute 51, Pauline McCordic would score on a pretty shot out of reach of Deanna Persico of McMaster, making the score 2-0. 12 minutes later, Laurier would add another goal courtesy of Emily Tamburro.
Gagan Parhar would add to the score making it 4-0 on a sweet header off the corner kick from Nicole Lyon in minute 70.
With Laurier pouring it on them, McMaster would start playing an up-tempo game in an attempt to really turn the pressure up on Laurier and mount some sort of comeback.
With the exception of a goal from Jade Smith in minute 75 to make it 4-1, Laurier would manage to hold their own despite the Marauders being able to effectively create some chances.
“We gave up a couple of chances,” Maclean said, “I would like to make sure that we don’t do [that] in the future.”
“But I think we handled it well and our goalkeeper managed the game well and we managed our time well,” MacLean said.
“I was pleased with everything.”
In regards to his team’s performance, Coach Maclean voiced his pleasure with the teams more recent successes, noting an improvement that looks hopeful for the future.
“I think, for me, this is the first time we played 90 minutes, where everybody committed to their role for the full 90 minutes and I thought at times we looked really good and very dangerous going forward and we finished chances which was great,” he said.
“I was happy with the overall performance.”
With the Hawks playing at a high-level on offense, as well as defense and goalkeeper Ashley Almeida playing really well, they have begun to look like the team Coach Maclean has expected them to be.
Moving up to 5-2-4 now, they will look to continue their high-level play versus Waterloo next Friday following their game at Guelph.
